Ikkitousen: Wild Card
by bloodyredrose1994
Summary: Fighters. Each of them posses a spirit of a Fighter from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and each have a fate. Now ranma Saotome must go to Kanto to help his cousin, the Sho Hao, Hakufu Sonsaku, and facing many challenges and changing the fate. (Originally Ten-Faced Paladin's idea,)


**This story wasn't originally mine, I adopted it from Ten-Faced Paladin.**

**My future chapters may not be like this one but I'll try my best in the future.**

* * *

><p>"You know, I think this has to be the best one yet."<p>

"Totally."

The two speakers were a pair of students whom were standing at the front gate of their school, both with bags of popcorn in their hands, munching away. One had short hair which was smooth with slightly narrow eyes while the other had shaggy hair with wider eyes. Their names were Hiroshi (shaggy hair) and Daisuke (narrow eyes) and both were students at the somewhat infamous Furinkan High School, centre of weirdness for the Nerima district. Next to them and sitting on the outer wall with his chin resting in his hand and scorched Chinese clothes was their common friend and constant source of (good natured) amusement, Ranma Saotome.

Usually at this time of day they would have been in class, at least Hiroshi and Daisuke would. Ranma would probably either have been in class or dealing with another angry fighter who wanted a bone to pick with either him or his father depending on the situation. However, that was not to be today as Furinkan High School was now sporting a large hole in its front which covered several floors and had been on fire, at least until the emergency crews had arrived on time for a change.

It had all started when Principal Kuno once again tried to force students to be late for class so he could be allowed to punish them by either giving them all haircuts or make them practically worship a bust of him in a locked room below his office so they could escape. This time his big plan was to fill the hallways with traps that would become active when the warning bell rang so the students could be late for class when they would trigger them while they attempted to get to class. After that, he'd patrol the halls and jump anyone who was forced to stand outside, aiming for his usual punishment of buzz-cuts for boys and bowl-cuts for girls. As the norm for Furinkan, Ranma had been once again forced into the hall since he and Akane had gotten into a fight once again over Ranma supposedly staring at Ms. Hinako's adult form. Avoiding being drained by the ki vampire, Ranma went to the hall with Akane before both were jumped by Principal Kuno. The resulting fight passed through the entire school before Principal Kuno got caught inside one of his own flame traps with a pineapple bomb which went up and took several sections of floor with it, resulting in the current situation.

"The stupid moron shouldn't have been using flamethrower traps," Ranma sighed, eyeing the elder Kuno being carried away by paramedics while wrapped up like a mummy.

"Good thing the Chemistry Club wasn't using that room today though," Hiroshi continued, munching his popcorn. His statement was referring to the chemistry clubroom which Principal Kuno had been storing the fuel for his fire traps which had went up the same time he did. It certainly explained why a simple pineapple bomb took out so much of the school.

"True," Daisuke agreed. Glancing up from his snack, he looked to Ranma. "So where is Akane? Usually she's here telling you you're an idiot or something."

"Hanging out with Yuka and Sayuri I think," Ranma replied easily. "Can't really say it wasn't my fault this time."

"Well, Principal Kuno shouldn't be laying traps like that anyway," Hiroshi argued. "Maybe finally someone will notice and fire him."

"With the kind of money he has? Not likely," Daisuke disagreed. Glancing at Ranma, he noticed the pigtailed martial artist wasn't enjoying seeing a Kuno in pain like he usually would and instead seemed more distant from the usual chaos. Anyone who kept their ears to the vein of Nerima's resident peacekeeper/chaos magnet could guess why the pigtailed boy seemed so out of it lately. "So things haven't been getting better since that whole wedding thing?"

"I wish," Ranma muttered, his eyes losing focus as he remembered what was probably the biggest Fiancée Brigade spat of all time. He and Akane Tendo, his so-called 'true' fiancée as proclaimed by his father Genma and Soun Tendo, had almost been married thanks in no small part to Soun holding a cask of Spring of Drowned Boy water hostage. However before the ceremony could actually start, the fiancées crashed it, guns blazing, ready to take down Akane by any means and/or take her place at the altar, whichever came first. The dojo Ranma called home was almost destroyed in the ensuing fight and the Nannichaun water was likewise lost, leaving all the Jusenkyo-cursed boys present slumped in depression for a few days.

Shaking his head to forget that time, Ranma just sighed, "Akane's been eyeing me like a hawk, acting like the moment she can't see me I'm doing something perverted to some helpless girl. Ukyo's been turning the drama up every time she sees me, talking about her lost childhood."

"Sounds like she's trying to guilt you into marrying her," Daisuke commented. That in itself was no big surprise since Ukyo Kuonji, the cross-dressing Okonomiyaki chef whom was engaged to Ranma had a habit of bringing up how Ranma's father stole her dowry and abandoned her, usually making it into a huge dramatic scene where both Ranma and whoever was with him could hear. Lately she had become more prone to doing that whenever she would see him, no doubt trying to get public support behind her claim since she stopped making a distinction between just her and Ranma hanging out and in the middle of a mealtime rush in her restaurant. According to Ranma, it was more than a little embarrassing and both boys were quite willing to take his word on that.

"Probably right," Ranma nodded. "Shampoo's snuck into my bath twice already and now I have to practically nail the door shut to keep her out. She's also tried drugging me three times with food."

"Wow, how'd you avoid that? You eat free food like there's no tomorrow," asked Hiroshi. He knew that the Chinese Amazon who claimed Ranma as her husband through tribal law would and had done just about anything to make Ranma consummate their 'marriage'. Several attempts included using weird herbs which would affect his mind, sneaking into his bath and showing herself off to him, or even using magic trinkets to make Ranma fall in love with her by force. Naturally they all went down in flames, but lately the Amazon had been using them quite liberally in her pursuit.

"Fed some to Kuno making him think my girl side made it," Ranma answered. "Shampoo wasn't happy but once Kuno started chasing her or doing whatever anyone told him to do when someone snapped their fingers she realized she was busted. Last time she actually tried sneaking the spice into my food while I wasn't looking. I figured she would try it so I pretended to be distracted and caught her in the act. I made a big deal about being mad and stuff too."

"That's why she left so fast last time she came," Daisuke realized. "What about her great-grandma?"

"Well, she seems content to leave me alone since that trip to China," Ranma shrugged. "I think she's figured out that Shampoo's blown any chance at me and just needs to realize it."

"Sounds like the kind of lesson she'd teach," Hiroshi snickered, remembering the antics Cologne would put his friend through, having witnessed Ranma's struggles for the Phoenix Pill so long ago. "What about Kodachi?"

"As nuts as ever," Ranma answered simply. The female spawn of Principal Kuno was all but stalking him at this point, using any opportunity she could to try and drug Ranma and kidnap him from the Tendo Dojo, somehow feeling she was rescuing him from the clutches of Akane and his female form. She seemed absolutely sure he should worship the ground she walked on and thank her for rescuing him even by marrying her as soon as possible.

"And what about the rivals?" asked Daisuke.

"They attack me pretty much on sight nowadays," Ranma replied, snickering. "They go at me in groups now. Usually it's made up of Mousse and Ryoga. Kuno sometimes get involved but now he's using a real sword to try and take me down. Its about the only time I get any real training since my Pop can't keep up with me anymore and the only exorcise he seems willing to go through is his mouth when he yells at me for not marrying Akane."

Ryoga and Kuno's reasons for attacking were pretty simple to figure out. Akane had been royally pissed off at Ranma for not going through with the event, feeling that Ranma was continuing to string the other girls along for his personal amusement and said as much to her pet piggy P-chan who was really Ryoga in his cursed form. Always seeing Akane as right and could do no wrong, Ryoga took her word as gospel and went after Ranma with even more vengeance than usual. Kuno of course fought to free his 'pigtailed girl' from Ranma's 'clutches' and also sought to punish Ranma for trying to marry Akane without his permission. Mousse had been all for the wedding and had even help set it up. What he was angry about was the fact that Shampoo was going after Ranma even harder than ever and thus figured Ranma was 'obviously' stringing her along, using her desperation as a tool for his own amusement.

"Speaking of your dad, why do you even listen to him anymore?" asked Daisuke. "I mean, he's gotta be the biggest thief and cheat in the world. Not to mention he's broken the promise to Akane's dad probably more times than even he can remember. Why doesn't Mr. Tendo just toss him out?"

"Not sure," Ranma shrugged. "The guy just seems happy to blame me for the extra fiancées even though it's mostly Pop who made them into fiancées in the first place. He takes Akane's side in everything even when he knows its Akane's fault like in her cooking. He knows it's bad and just makes me eat it so he won't have to. He can't just man up and tell her it's bad since she'll just blow a gasket and hit someone, probably me."

"Okay…" Hiroshi grimaced. "Man, it's a damn miracle you haven't gone insane yet."

"Trust me, it's not easy," Ranma nodded, his eyes regaining focus and instead looked to the missing floors of his school. "So, how many days off do you think this repair job is going to take?"

"Well, if those Martial Arts Repair and Construction guys who were hired to fix that hole in the roof the last time the Fiancée Brigade all got together then it may just take a few days. I'd say under a week." Daisuke guessed.

"Nah, they charge too much. You know how cheap Principal Kuno is," Hiroshi denied. "I'd say it'll take three weeks and that's if they use a company stationed in Nerima."

"I'm with Hiroshi," Ranma nodded. "If Principal Kuno decides that the locals charge too much then he'll try someone from Juuban or something and that'll take even longer since we bust more stuff than the Sailor Senshi do. I say it takes a month."

"You're on," Hiroshi and Daisuke spoke at once.

-Ding-Ding! Ding-Ding!-

Hiroshi and Daisuke heard the chimes of a cell phone which was so common in their age group. Both had checked their pockets out of pure reflex, finding that their own communication devices were not active and alerting them. Pocketing them, they heard the tell-tale 'beep' which signalled that someone had pressed a receiving button which accepted the message or call. Following the noise, they looked to Ranma again who had reached into his own pocket and produced a cell phone of his own. He was reading a text message of some kind and it was apparently good news since he had a grin on his face, one of those amused and nostalgic kinds rather than his usual cocky one.

"Since when do you have a cell phone?" asked Hiroshi.

"Since a few weeks ago during my birthday," Ranma answered, pressing a few buttons. "My cousin sent it to me as a gift. Took me forever how to figure out how to use messages and calling."

"You have a cousin?" blinked Daisuke. "How come you never mentioned it before?"

"Didn't seem important to mention it after I first came," Ranma answered, still pressing buttons as he made a message to reply with. "After the other fiancées and rivals started showing up, I figured it was for both my own and her safety that I don't mention it."

"So your cousin is a girl," Hiroshi began to grin. "So does she have a name? Do you have a picture?"

Rolling his eyes, Ranma began working on a different function of his phone. He should have expected this since it was a known fact that almost all of the boys in Furinkan were desperate for any kind of female attention that they could get. The pickings must have been slim since the Hentai Horde managed to gain so many members even though there seemed to be so many girls in the school. Either they all had boyfriends, proving there were more boys than girls or the whole mob mentality had taken over.

"Her name's Hakufu Sonsaku," Ranma replied, bringing up an image on the screen. Pointing it at his friends, he revealed a photo of a strawberry blonde who was smiling brightly and was wearing a violet sundress which seemed to reach down to her thighs and held back breasts which seemed capable of filling a person's hand to the point of overflowing.

"Wow…" the two boys grinned.

"Yeah," Ranma shrugged, recalling the picture and bringing his phone back. "I first met her when I was little. Pop was dragging me through Kanto when we were spotted by Aunt Goei. Boy was Pop nervous."

"Nervous?" asked Hiroshi.

"Aunt Goei is Mom's sister and if I remember right, they share a lot of habits…"

-FLASHBACK-

_Genma Saotome was pulling Ranma along through one of the cities in Kanto, his son only around nine years old. The man was looking for some training dojos which he had heard about in the nearby mountains. However, he first had to get directions to those mountains and get some more supplies._

_"Pop, I'm hungry!" Chibi-Ranma whined._

_"Quiet Boy!" Genma hissed. "A martial artist is able to take some adversity!" While that was true, Genma's own stomach was viciously insisting to be fed like always. So much so Genma was considering trying to find some restaurant owner with a daughter so he could arrange a 'deal' with them in return for some free food, usually only enough to feed him and only him while leaving Ranma to either fend for himself or just get scraps. The problem was that all the buildings were someone similar looking and it looked like he was lost._

_'Not lost, just taking the scenic route,' Genma corrected himself. After all, a martial artist of his calibre never got lost. He was the pinnacle of manhood!_

_"Why, Genma Saotome!"_

_Genma paled and immediately turned to face who had called his name, incidentally placing himself behind Ranma, ready to use the boy in one of his pre-made excuses to get out of trouble. Finding his opponent, he spotted a woman in a black kimono and a red obi. She had short dark hair which was curled in the back slightly and was holding a white lace daytime umbrella. Her face was pretty and she had a large smile on her red lips, but her glasses gave her that mature woman charm. All in all, she looked like the kind of woman anyone would want to get next to._

_Genma began to pale further and sweat, "Go-Go-Goei?"_

_"Why, you do remember me!" the woman smiled as she advanced on the nervous man. "My, my, No-chan's been so worried about little Ranma. She'll be so happy to hear that he's safe and sound."_

_"Um…ah…huh…" Genma sputtered._

_"Why, she just hasn't been herself since you left," the woman known as Goei continued. "All of the neighbours seem to think that you've gone up and abandoned her, kidnapping your only child in the process. It's very hard on her too. All sorts of debt collectors seem to keep knocking on her door too. They seem to think that Ranma, a nine-year old boy is racking up debts of sake, bar tabs, and enough food to feed a small herd of elephants. Imagine that!"_

_"Ah…yes…imagine…" Genma gulped._

_"Luckily she managed to get it all straightened out and the debts are in your name now," Goei smiled, but her smile seemed to have an edge of steel in it._

_"Lucky…" Genma slumped. If he had gone any more pale people would have assumed he was a ghost. 'Damn, I was hoping it would be longer before they figured it out and by then forget about me!'_

_"Hmm, now that I know I have family here, I must insist that you stay with us for at least a little while," Goei continued, looking as pleasant as ever, but the sharp steel in both her smile and her voice never leaving. "I'm sure it will be much better than staying in a tent or the open air."_

_"…okay…" Genma gulped._

_"Thanks!" Ranma smiled. Gosh, he never got to sleep in a bed inside a house before. All he got to sleep on was futons in tents when his dad didn't try to steal them when he wasn't looking._

_"Oh, anything for my nephew!" Goei giggled as Ranma's eyes lit up on her. The steel was completely gone from her face and voice as she talked to the little pigtailed boy._

-END FLASHBACK-

"Wow. Your dad is really scared of your aunt?" asked Hiroshi.

"Well, it was probably partly because she knew how to get in contact with Mom and tell her some of the stupid stuff Pop was doing in the name of training," Ranma answered, still writing his reply. "The other part was that she probably knew about the contract and would see just how manly I was at age nine. Mom can be kind of vague about what makes manly men, but Aunt Goei sure knows. She's single so she's kind of boy crazy, at least from what Hakufu told me."

"So did you meet Hakufu then?" asked Daisuke.

"Yeah, and her cousin Kokin Shuyu," Ranma nodded.

-FLASHBACK-

_Upon being led to the Shu home by a smiling Goei, Ranma was guided to the backyard where two other kids were playing. One was a boy with short almost dark blue hair who wore shorts and a simple t-shirt. The other was a girl the same age as both boys with strawberry blonde hair done up in two ponytails wearing a violet sundress. The girl was yelling about something and running with a stick while the boy seemed to be trying to calm her down._

_"Hakufu! Kokin!, I brought guests!" Goei called._

_"Huh?" the girl, Hakufu, blinked as she spotted the sullen Genma and smiling Ranma. "Who are they Mama?"_

_"Why they're your Uncle Genma and your cousin Ranma of course!" Goei giggled. "I just saw them today and decided that we could all have a nice visit together. Isn't that nice?"_

_"Yay!" the little girl cheered as she ran towards Ranma with the other boy in tow. Reaching Ranma, she stood straight with a bright smile on her face. "Hi! My name's Hakufu and this is my cousin Kokin!"_

_"Hi, I'm Ranma!" the pigtailed boy smiled. "I'm training to be a martial artist just like my Pop!"_

_"Oh! Cool!" Hakufu smiled. "I like fighting too! My mama lets me use a punching back and I get to hit and punch it all I want! I watch all sorts of cool fighting movies when I can too! They're so awesome! I want to be able to jump and fight like them too! Say, is your father really the lazy man Mama is always saying bad things about?"_

_"Lazy? What's that mean?" asked Ranma in confusion._

_"It…it means someone who lies down and doesn't work at all," Kokin answered somewhat quietly._

_"Oh," Ranma blinked. After a moment of considering the word, he began to smile. "That's Pop! He's always laying around while I'm training. Whenever I slow down he starts yelling at me for being lazy too even though I'm the one working all the time."_

_"Oh ho ho! That sounds like Genma!" Goei laughed, but the steel had returned to her voice as her eyes lanced to Genma._

_The round martial artist wanted to argue that he was not lazy and worked very hard to train Ranma to be the best. He missed several meals to make sure Ranma trained! However, the excuses he knew were perfectly reasonable and understandable in his mind would never be allowed in Goei's mind, much less Nodoka's. He could have tried blustering and explain all dramatic-like how he put his all into Ranma's training but Goei was never one to trust him even when he was in sight and telling the truth. As such, he decided to go the tried and true method of shutting up and nodding, an answer which women like Goei and Nodoka seemed to accept._

_"Hey, wanna go play?" asked Hakufu. "We're playing Romance of the Three Kingdoms!"_

_"How do you play that?" asked Ranma._

_"It's easy! I'm Empress Hakufu and you guys are my loyal retainers as we go out and take over China!" Hakufu cheered._

_"That sounds like fun!" Ranma grinned. "Let's go beat people up!"_

_"Yeah!" the little girl cheered._

_"Do we have to?" whined Kokin._

-END FLASHBACK-

"Kokin was all right I guess, but we never seemed to really become friends like Hakufu and I did. I guess we were just too different," Ranma explained. "He was really protective of Hakufu though. One time we got into a fight over who could protect Hakufu more before she broke us both up and said we could both protect her at the same time. Aunt Goei just loved it, saying that manly men bloomed early or something."

"Sounds like something your mom would say," Hiroshi snickered. "They must be related."

"So did your dad try his usual scheme of clearing the house out of everything of value?" asked Daisuke.

"Nah. I think Aunt Goei kept a list of everything that was in the house," Ranma laughed. "She kept taking out this long piece of paper when Pop was around and showed it to him and pointed at something. Pop would pale, get sweaty, and try to deny it but Aunt Goei would just glare at him and he'd pull out whatever he took from his gi and give it back to her."

"Finally someone your dad can't swindle!" Hiroshi grinned.

"So what is your cousin writing to you about anyway?" asked Daisuke.

"Well, she started her new school and already managed to find plenty of people to fight," Ranma answered, slipping off the wall. The emergency crews were finishing up and getting statements. They would be leaving soon and that would signal the return of the usual strangeness which filled Nerima. "She's a sucker for a good fight like me. She said she's moving in with Kokin's family while she goes. She talked mostly about this big muscled guy who kicked her butt and how badly she wants a rematch though."

"Definitely related to you," Daisuke nodded with a laugh. "What school is she going to?"

"Uh…" Ranma frowned, scrolling through the message before finding the name. "A place called Nanyo Academy."

The two regular boys were quiet for a moment as they were told the name of the school. Both of them had heard the name before. In fact, anyone who had been keeping up with the news would have recognized the name. However, either Ranma had no clue just what the rumours were that were connected to the school known as Nanyo Academy or he did and being the fight nut that he was, didn't know just how bad things could turn out.

"Nanyo Academy, you sure that's the place?" asked Daisuke.

"Yeah, it is. Why?" asked Ranma.

"Well, it's just that there are a lot of rumours going on about that place," the narrow-eyed boy grimaced. "I mean, it's all the way out in Kanto and we're still able to hear about stuff going on there."

"What kind of rumours?" asked Ranma with a frown, not liking the tone of voice that his friend was using. His nervous fidgeting as he made the previous statement was also a dead giveaway that the supposed rumours that Daisuke was talking about were not of the good variety either.

"That Nanyo Academy and six other schools are involved in some kind of gang war," Daisuke answered with Hiroshi nodding vigorously. "I mean, it's massive and people are getting really hurt when they fight it. If your cousin Hakufu is really a fight nut like you then she's probably going to get involved."

Ranma's eyes narrowed on his two friends, trying to figure out if it was just rumour or not, but not being one to discern lies being told to him unless they were blatantly obvious, he couldn't have been sure. Still, if what they were saying was true then his cousin Hakufu might be in trouble. She was a fight enthusiast for sure, but she had no skills and no real moves beyond punching and kicking. She didn't have the patience for martial arts like he did when they were little and judging by some of the mail she had sent him, she probably still didn't. If her excitement in finding strong opponents remained the same then she'd probably get involved in the war just to be able to fight strong people…just like he would.

"Crap," the pigtailed martial artist scowled as he slipped the phone into his pocket. "Do either of you know where Nabiki went?"

"I think she went home after her cronies collected all of the bet money on your latest fight with Principal Kuno," Daisuke answered.

"Okay, then I've gotta go," Ranma nodded, his face growing very grim. "See you guys."

Ranma then exited the school grounds, leaving the two boys behind. Both of them could tell that Ranma was going to get serious on something or somebody since he only ever wore a grim look like that when he was going to kick someone's butt. If a relation of his was going to get involved then it was probably going to be the most serious that anyone was going to see him fighting in a long time. The only problem was that no one in Furinkan was probably going to see it.

"You ever get the feeling that something big is going to change because of this?" asked Hiroshi.

"I got the same feeling when Ranma first showed up," Daisuke nodded.

* * *

><p><strong>Tendo Dojo<strong>

Nabiki indeed had gone home early from school that day as reported by Hiroshi and Daisuke. Since a portion of the school had been obliterated by Principal Kuno with another abuse of authority idea and the students staging a revolt with Ranma in the lead, she now had some free time. After collecting the bet money made from the most recent fight, she had gone home to crunch some numbers and finish what homework she had so she could get to her favourite pastimes, lounging and skimming money off Ranma. While she didn't dislike the pigtailed boy, far from it since he had managed to solve a lot of problems for the family such as Picolet, the Dojo Destroyer, and other various problems, Nabiki skimmed money off just about everyone so to fund the monthly budget. Oh sure, sometimes she'd splurge a little on herself and that one month where she blew the monthly savings was sort of a punishment on her father who was being extra stupid at the time, but she did that sort of thing to just about everyone and Ranma just made it so easy, making it all entertainment to her.

Trying to figure out some odds for the next Kuno/Saotome battle, Nabiki heard her door open. Glancing, she saw Ranma entering her room with a very grim look on his face. Now she knew Ranma was very serious about something, having seen him wear that look mostly when Akane was in danger or something. However, to Nabiki's knowledge Akane was safe and sound at the school, complaining to her friends what an idiot her fiancé was for doing such damage to the school despite everyone else cheering for the boy. Either one of the other fiancées was in trouble or something else was up. Either way, it meant money for her and a potential new betting subject.

"Why Saotome, don't you ever knock?" Nabiki asked with a catty grin as she swivelled in her chair to greet her potential brother-in-law. "I could have been naked in here you know. Imagine what Akane or the other girls would say if they knew you were putting the moves on me?"

"Can it," Ranma frowned, stopping Nabiki's train of thought completely. Usually the Saotome would be blushing at the thought and stammering, making for an amusing floor show. If her usual flirting innuendo wasn't affecting him, then he must have been dead serious about something. Saffron-level seriousness if she guessed right. Reaching into his pocket, Ranma produced a wad of yen notes and tossed them into Nabiki's hands. The middle Tendo Daughter blinked as she caught the money while Ranma made his request. "That's 10,000 Yen. I want to know everything you can get on the supposed gang war out in Kanto involving seven schools."

Nabiki blinked again, but her brain quickly went into business mode as she pocketed the cash, "You're in luck Saotome. Since it first came on the news, I decided to learn what I could about it since I figured you were going to get involved sooner or later. One of my subordinates has relatives out there who don't mind explaining what they know in return for a little payment." Returning to her desk, she opened a drawer filled with files. Picking one, she retrieved it before handing it over to the pigtailed young man. "It seems that the gang war going on out there is involving all seven schools and their student body, not a bunch if punks who attend each school. They are fighting to dominate the area and the seven schools entirely. The reason why no one is really sure. However, there is something I'd say is weird about the whole thing and makes me think you'd get involved."

"What's that?" asked Ranma.

"It seems that the best fighters there are named after historic figures from Romance of the Three Kingdoms," Nabiki explained. Seeing Ranma's raised eyebrow, she snickered. It figured that he had never read the story before since Genma considered things like books and education a waste of time. "It's a story from the 16th century about a war out in China. Apparently the gang war is some kind of re-enactment of it according to my source."

"Oh," Ranma nodded. This was just sounding better and better. "Was there a character named Hakufu Sonsaku?"

"Yup," Nabiki nodded. "That was one of the leaders of the three Kingdoms. One of the toughest too."

"Great," Ranma frowned. It seemed that his cousin was all but guaranteed to be part of the war if it was being some kind of re-enactment of events which happened centuries ago simply because she was named after one of the strongest fighters that had taken part in it. "Do you know the seven schools that are in the middle of this?"

"Yes," Nabiki nodded. "They're called Rakuyo High School, Nanyo Academy, Kyosho Academy, Youshu Private School, Yoshuu Academy, Seito Private School, and Ryoushu Private School. At the moment it seems that Rakuyo is the toughest school out there."

"Perfect," Ranma frowned. Flipping through the papers in the file, he found a map which had seven points circled in red, presumably the positions of the seven schools.

"Now that I've answered your question, answer mine," Nabiki smirked. "Just why are you so interested now?"

"I have a relative who started going to Nanyo today," Ranma answered immediately. Unlike him, Nabiki could sniff out a lie a mile away which was why the fathers never really tried to get her on their side in getting him married to Akane. She could see through the layers of bullcrap they could dish out and she knew that their reasons for the engagement weren't as pure as they liked to think they were. Well, at least for Genma's side anyway. It was better to just tell the truth and get it over with. "Hiroshi and Daisuke mentioned the war and I was worried."

"Hmm. And you relation's name is Hakufu Sonsaku eh?" wondered Nabiki, guessing the supposed relative's identity from the questions Ranma had been asking.

"Yes. She's a fight nut like me but unlike me she has no training whatsoever," Ranma sighed. "If she is going to be forced to be part of this, she's probably not going to last long unless she gets training."

Now, Nabiki usually would have milked this for all it was worth by selling her silence to Ranma before selling the info to the fiancées and rivals once his cash dried up. However, that would have been if this Hakufu girl Ranma was so worried about was a friend or something. Ice Queen and money-grubber she might have been, but there were some lines that she wouldn't cross. Dealing against family was one of those things. Well, past a certain point anyway. Ranma was showing genuine concern for this Hakufu girl and Nabiki knew just how bad the gang war could get, having gotten reports of deaths and intensive care visits by some of the people who had lost in it.

"Thanks Nabiki," Ranma nodded, slipping the file into his ki pocket. "How much will it cost to keep you quiet?"

"Pro bono in this case," the middle Tendo shrugged. "If this Hakufu girl is a relative then there's no point in getting the Wrecking Crew all worked up. Besides, you're concerned for a genuine reason rather than one of your usual dumb reasons like pride or something your father did. If I find out she's really a girl on the side though…"

"Right, right," Ranma shivered. That would just be Armageddon in the Nerima district and it wasn't something he wanted to risk. "Trust me, Hakufu is a cousin and that's all. No romantic interest there."

With the file in his possession, Ranma left the room. Nabiki was left wondering what exactly he planned to do now that he knew the situation out in Kanto. If a relative of his really was involved then he was most likely going to try and do something about it and that meant he'd be likely setting out for Kanto. Well, if anything else once the news came to Furinkan she could make bets about how long it'd be before he started making waves, made the news, or even stopped the war by beating up everyone involved.

With a small smile, she began calculating the odds.

* * *

><p>Ranma had returned to his own room and began packing his clothes. He knew that getting out of Nerima so to check out Kanto was going to be tough by itself; especially since the fiancées had a habit of following him everywhere he went so to try and squeeze some kind of romance out of the trip. However, he couldn't let them come this time. This was a family affair and it would be handled by family and just because they were engaged it didn't mean they were family despite the arguments they would no doubt make to the contrary.<p>

The sounds of a sliding door alerted him to someone coming. Turning his face, he saw the form of his mother looking at him with some confusion.

"Son, why are you packing? Are you and your father going on another training trip?" asked Nodoka.

"Ah…no," Ranma answered. Steeling himself he began to explain, hoping it was an acceptable reason. When it came to his mother, one was never sure what could be called reasonable with her state of mind. "Well, I got a message from cousin Hakufu today and I just figured that since it's been so long and I had some free time, I'd go down and visit her and Aunt Goei. You know, see the family again."

Nodoka once again blinked at the explanation, but then her smile began to light up the room, "Oh Ranma that's a splendid idea! It has been a while since you've seen Go-chan and Hakufu-chan. Why, I'll bet they'll just love how manly you've become. Hakufu-chan has become quite the young woman too. It's a shame you two are related since you two would make quite the couple but that's life." If possible, Nodoka's face lit up even more as a new idea came to her. "Say, why don't you take Akane with you? You can introduce your fiancée to Go-chan!"

"Ah, I was kind of hoping to go alone," Ranma sweatdropped. Having Akane around would just make the situation worse since she'd call him a pervert who would eye up his own cousin no doubt and probably make fighting those gangs even harder. Akane had a habit of getting into the middle of his fights even though she often yelled at him for doing the same. "You know, catch up and see what they're up to. I mean, things have been so hectic here I've been hoping to get some time alone and relax." There, that sounded like a perfectly reasonable request.

"Hmmm," Nodoka pondered, placing her finger on her chin. "Well, I suppose even the manliest of men need some time to relax. Although I do feel if you just took those other nice girls as mistresses then relaxing wouldn't be a problem. Still, it's your choice I suppose and if you want to go see Go-chan then I won't stop you. Although, there is something I'd like to give you before you head out though."

"Huh? Something to give me?" Ranma blinked.

"Yes," Nodoka nodded, withdrawing her hand into her kimono. After a moment, she brought it back out with a small black box which seemed to be polished and lacquered to perfection. "It took me forever to find one, but I just had to since Go-chan said the manliest men and womanliest women wear these out in Kanto."

Taking the box, Ranma removed the lid to see what was inside. As the lid was removed, the light flooded the box and sparkled off of what looked like a gold bead. It was shaped like part of a Tao yin-yang symbol with a hole where the oppositely coloured dot would normally be. It was actually a very mesmerising trinket and it had a way of catching the eye when Ranma had peered at it. Somehow, it felt like more than just a simple bead.

"Where did you find this?" asked Ranma.

"I found it with an old man in a shrine," Nodoka answered with a smile. "He said it was a family heirloom but his son had died in an accident and that he had no one to pass it on to. When I mentioned my son was a strong martial artist that was unmatched in my home district, he seemed quite eager to sell it to me. I got it for practically nothing!"

"Oh," Ranma blinked. Shrugging, he plucked the bead out of the case and continued looking at it. "So, all of the strong people in Kanto wear these?"

"From what Go-chan told me, yes," Nodoka nodded. "If you have one on then people will try to fight you apparently. I guess there are just so many people who want to test how manly they are or girls who are looking out for the best possible match for them!"

"Right…" Ranma sweatdropped. "Well, thanks Mom."

"My pleasure!" Nodoka smiled. "Still, if you plan to go visit Go-chan and Hakufu-chan then you had better get going. I'll let Kasumi know not to set a place."

"Thanks Mom," Ranma nodded, pushing the last of his things into his backpack. Hefting it over his shoulder, he headed to the window and leaped out, beginning his trek across the rooftops. Nodoka just watched him go with a smile, but it soon turned into a frown.

"Go-chan…it's just like I predicted…" she sighed.

Kanto was a fair distance away, even for roofhopping so Ranma had decided to spring for train fare from what measly amounts of spare cash he had leftover from paying Nabiki off. The ride had taken a little while, but it was at least peaceful. No one was causing trouble and it wasn't all that crowded either. During the trip, Ranma had taken out the golden bead his mother had given him. He still couldn't figure out why it gave him such an odd feeling, but as long as it wasn't dangerous he didn't care all that much. However, he didn't notice some people gulp nervously and shuffle away from him as they saw the item in his possession. Oblivious to the nervous people around him, Ranma just continued to look at the item before he reached into his pack and produced a length of string he had gotten from somewhere and made a makeshift necklace from it with the bead at the centre. Jewellery wasn't really his thing, but if the thing would help him blend into the Kanto region then all the better for him.

With the train finally stopping, Ranma got off and looked around. It didn't escape his notice that there were some other kids his age that sported the same kind of beads as either earrings or necklaces, but the colours were different. He didn't escape their notice either as they kept their eyes on the arriving crowd or spotted the bead hanging around his neck. They didn't make any moves, but they did bring out their cell phones and begin making messages. Still, Ranma didn't care. Let them talk. He had more important things to do like finding where Nanyo Academy was so he could check on his cousin.

Exiting the station, he retrieved the file Nabiki had given him and retrieved the map. Like he had seen, it had marked out the seven schools' positions, but it didn't say which of the schools were which. Sighing, Ranma decided to just go through them one by one starting with the one closest to his current position, "Okay. Let's see which one comes first."

While Genma may have disregarded a lot about maps except where his position was and where he wanted to go, Ranma had taken the skill of map reading seriously since he had gotten sick of being lost during the training trip and his father making stupid excuses about how men didn't need to ask for directions or similar crap. It was easy for Ranma to find his position and thus find where the closest of the seven schools were. After that, he folded the map and placed in his pocket again before he set off.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile…<p>

The Tendo household was in its usual measure of downtime between martial arts challengers and various antics of the mentally unstable or downright idiotic people which would plague them. Genma and Soun were playing shogi and doing nothing but cheat as they tried to beat each other yet again. Nabiki was enjoying the peace and reading one of her magazines at the table while Kasumi was sitting at the table, enjoying some tea and having a break. Akane was in the kitchen once again trying her hand at cooking while Nodoka was elsewhere, doing the laundry.

"Say, where's Ranma anyway? I made dinner tonight," Akane spoke as she brought out a plate of her usual cooking disasters which she seemed to believe was perfectly edible even though she never tasted it to be sure, believing that it was as perfect as Kasumi's.

"Yes, where is the boy?" asked Genma. "He should be here to taste his fiancée's cooking." 'Better him than me!'

"I haven't seen him since this afternoon," Soun pondered, likewise hoping the boy would take the brunt of Akane's horrible cooking skills.

"Oh, he's gone to go visit some relatives," Nodoka smiled, entering the room. "He said Hakufu-chan sent him a message today so he was going to go visit her and Go-chan. Isn't that nice?"

"Hakufu? Go-chan? Who are they?" asked Akane suspiciously. She noticed Genma flinch and begin to sweat. Whenever the heavyset martial artist did that it meant that something he did was about to catch up to him or it was someone he would prefer to forget about. Usually it was an extra fiancée he set up and that meant another girl who Ranma would be 'perverted' with in Akane's often misinformed mind. She was already ready to break out her mallet if that was the case.

"Why, they're Ranma's cousin and aunt," Nodoka smiled. "It has been a while since he's seen them and Hakufu has only recently started keeping in contact with him when she sent him that cell phone for his birthday."

Akane blinked, remembering that day. Everyone had gotten something for Ranma save for Genma who got himself drunk again while stating a birthday was just a distraction from Ranma's duties to the families. Of course, the man promptly threw a fit when it seemed like everyone save for Nodoka and Soun had forgotten that it was his own birthday in the past. Ranma had gotten the cell phone in a pink box and Akane assumed that it was a girl who gave it to him. The way his face lit up for that simple gift rather than for the training towel with the horse (mistaken for a tiger and thus received a freak out) she had worked so hard to make for him just made her temper worse. She assumed the phone came from Ukyo or Kodachi and she thus lost her temper and pounded him, feeling justified as usual with her father and Genma backing her yet again.

"His cousin sent him that? He didn't tell me that he had a cousin!" Akane cried.

"Well, you did beat him into unconsciousness for smiling when he got it and whenever he tried to explain for the next week you just kept pounding him," Nabiki commented from her magazine. She remembered seeing Ranma get hit with Akane's trusty mallet so fast he could never even say where the phone had come from. "After that week he just gave up trying to explain since you just didn't want to listen to him…like always."

"He's gone to visit relatives?" Soun blinked, ignorant of his friend's nervousness. "Why didn't he take Akane with him? He could have introduced her to them!" and received more support for the marriage from more of the Saotome and hopefully get the boy to finally see reason and marry his little girl as was right and proper in his mind.

"Well, Ranma said he wanted some time alone so he wanted to visit by himself," Nodoka shrugged. "I must say, after all of the hijinks him and his friends get up to, I can't say that I blame him."

"Hnnnn!" Akane frowned. No doubt Ranma was going to get into trouble or into some kind of perverted mess. "I'd better go after him then. Where does his cousin live Auntie?"

Nodoka merely walked past Akane and took a seat at the table while she began to pour a cup of tea, "I don't think telling anyone would be a good idea. Ranma wants some peace and quiet and I think he could use some as well. Besides, Go-chan is a responsible adult and will make sure nothing bad happens to him. He's in good hands."

Akane of course didn't believe that as she began to grit her teeth, angry as always when her supposed fiancé wasn't there to try her cooking, spar, say something nice, or anything Akane expected a man of hers to do. Not that she let anyone know that since she constantly stated she hated boys and often saw them as perverts no matter what.

* * *

><p><strong>Kanto<strong>

Ranma walked up to the inner-city school building which was labelled as closest to him. It didn't really look all that impressive, but if there was supposedly a gang hanging around then he could believe that it was in this school. It was bland and more or less small. Definitely a place where thugs would hang out since it probably didn't receive that many students who wanted to enter besides thugs who had gotten low grades and needed a dumping ground. Ignoring the various punk-types who were sporting the same beads and glaring at him, Ranma spotted the sign posted outside the outer wall.

"Youshu Private School," Ranma read. "Great. Wrong one." Taking out a pen, Ranma began scribbling on the map, marking the proper position on the paper as Youshu.

"Hey buddy! Just who the hell are you? What do you think you're doing here?" demanded one of the punks crossly. Apparently Ranma had overstayed what welcome he had and was being targeted by the local thugs who wanted to make a name for themselves. It seemed that the beads everyone wore really did single you out as being a tough guy.

"Hm?" Ranma looked up at the guy who yelled at him. He was some guy who wore a yellow jacket and a black hat and even had a beard, making him look older than the average high school student. He had a magenta bead on his ear, marking him as a fighter, but from what Ranma could tell he wasn't a very good one. "Keep your hat on, I'm just looking for one of the seven schools. This one wasn't it."

"Oh yeah?" asked the hat guy suspiciously, walking towards Ranma. "And just which school are you looking for?"

"Nanyo," Ranma answered, putting his map away. "You know which way that is?"

"Hnnn, must be another transfer. First the booby bombs and now this guy," the hat guy frowned before he raised his voice so Ranma could hear. "So you want to know where Nanyo is? Well, I can say that you won't be getting there from the afterlife!" Pointing out at Ranma with a deadly serious frown on his face, he shouted, "Get him!"

The united outcry from the other thugs, Ranma was charged from all sides. The first thug raced at him with a crowbar, but didn't get a chance to even swing when Ranma's kick landed on his face and sent him flying backwards. Another thug tried his luck with a punch, but the pigtailed martial artist easily caught it before tossing him into one of the other thugs who crashed to the ground in a heap. Glancing over, Ranma spotted the hat guy backing away as more thugs continued running at him with their bare hands or simple weapons.

"Tsk!" Ranma growled before he leaped up, easily going over the heads of the other thugs and landing at the feet of the hat thug with the beard. Lashing out, Ranma grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and lifted him off of his feet, making the other thugs freeze. The yellow-shirted thug seemed pretty intimidated by his position alone, but Ranma's glare certainly finished up the intimidation tactics. "Okay pal, just who are you and why'd you have your goons attack me? What did I do?"

"Rrgh! My name's Hanno!" the thug growled. "You should know damn well why we'd attack you, jackass!"

"No I don't!" Ranma frowned, bringing Hanno's face closer. "Now start talking before I decide to take you all down on principle!"

"He means you seem like you're a new transfer to Nanyo."

The new voice was smooth and calm, catching Ranma's attention along with Hanno and the goon squad. Turning to the gates of the school, the thugs began to part as someone new began to enter the scene. He had tanned skin and long black hair which was tied up into braids which hung over his shoulders with a headband. He wore a white shirt and slightly saggy green pants with his hands in his pockets. On his left ear was a gold bead like Ranma's and sunglasses shielded his eyes. Unlike the other goons and thugs which populated the battlefield, this guy spoke of considerable skill, power, and experience. His actions likewise spoke of respect and style. He may have looked like a thug, but he was anything but.

"You guys think I'm transferring to Nanyo?" Ranma frowned. It figured. Once again the people he just met began to assume things about him and a whole lot of violence followed. Dropping Hanno onto his butt with a thud, he sighed. "I'm not transferring to any of the seven schools. I just wanted to check something which was happening in Nanyo." The thugs and punks began whispering to each other, mentioning things such as 'unaffiliated', 'another school' and such words.

"Is that so?" gold bead-bearing young man blinked. "Well, it seems we owe you an apology then. Hanno has a habit of doing stupid things."

"Hey!" Hanno cried, getting to his knees with a frown.

"Shut up!" Ranma snapped at the punk before looking back to the other young man. "So just who are you anyway?"

"Taishiji Shigi," the teenager answered as he pushed his sunglasses up with his finger before hiding his hand in his pocket again. "You?"

"Ranma Saotome," the pigtailed martial artist grinned.

"Well met," Taishiji nodded. "I notice that your blood seems to be boiling a little after just being attacked. Being attacked by low-ranked fighters probably doesn't doo much good for the warrior's spirit, does it?"

"No, it doesn't," Ranma shrugged, knowing the frustration of being attacked by weaklings who figured themselves the top dogs and thought they could beat anyone. He couldn't even compare half of his skills against such people and it left him feeling empty rather than excited like a real fight would. Unfortunately, since the battle with Saffron most of his fights left him feeling that way since the rivals had been attacking in groups driven by desperation rather than actually training to get better. "But I'm used to beating up people weaker than me since they just keep finding reasons to come after me."

"A shame then," Taishiji sighed, his stance telling of similar feelings of being unfulfilled when faced with inexperienced and low-level fighters. "Then I propose this. As part of my school's apology; we'll fight as equals and test our skills against one another and see how we stand."

"What?" Hanno shouted, getting to his feet. "Taishiji, you know Ryuyou won't-!"

"Sounds good," Ranma grinned, pushing the upset Hanno back onto his butt with a thud. The feeling he was receiving from Taishiji told him that the guy was an honest fighter and would stick to the unspoken fighter's code. It was a rare thing for Ranma to face such a foe since almost everyone he knew would try some kind of cheap trick in order to gain victory, even if they came to regret having to rely on such things in the end. Dropping his bag on the ground, he took a stance as the other thugs made room between him and Taishiji. "Ready when you are."

"Good," Taishiji grinned, slipping his hands from his pockets and raising his fists. "Shall we begin?"

Grinning, Ranma led the first attack, racing past stunned thugs who almost didn't see him before he lashed out with a kick. Taishiji, despite not looking like a martial artist, managed to see the attack and raise his leg, blocking the blow. Acting quickly, he retaliated with a punch which Ranma escaped by leaning backwards to stay out of reach from. At the same time, he kicked upwards, aiming at Taishiji's chin. The long-haired teen jerked his head to the side to avoid it, but gave up his sure footing to do so. Ranma capitalized on the move by bouncing back up with his hands, ready to punch at his opponent. However, Taishiji's loose standing wasn't as loose as it first seemed as he suddenly regained his standing and shot a punch of his own. The two fists met with a smashing force which caused the ground to shatter into chucks and force both fighters back several feet, their feet skidding across the dirt.

Several of the lower fighters had been knocked over by the force since they were too close, but Ranma and Taishiji were both still standing. Both were panting, not having been expecting such recoil from their punches, but they weren't done yet.

"Man, you are good!" Ranma grinned, laughter in his voice.

"You too. This is getting fun," Taishiji grinned.

That was all that was said before the two charged at each other once again. Ranma moved for some grappling moves in attempts to throw off Taishiji's punching style, but the braided teen seemed to have experience with such opponents and was able to slip through some of the grapples or dodge them entirely. Dodging one such grapple, Taishiji shot out with another punch. This time it was able to graze Ranma's side, making the pigtailed fighter wince as even with a glancing blow, the force of the punch managing to bring some pain. However, Ranma Saotome never took a hit without returning it with interest. As Taishiji's glancing blow connected, he lashed out with a kick of his own which crashed against the tanned teen's left arm, making him wince before Ranma pushed away from him again.

Ranma grimaced as he checked his side. It was probably going to leave a bruise, but it was going to make his muscles stiffen and probably not in a small way if the jolt of pain he felt was any sort of indication. On the other side, Taishiji was feeling his arm echoing the pain from the kick and already stiffening. It would cut the effectiveness of his left punch by about half until the feeling returned but at the speeds the two were fighting at, that might be too long. Still, both fighters had to agree that it was a most fulfilling fight.

"Give up yet?" Ranma snickered.

"Not even close," Taishiji grinned.

With another yell, both fighters charged at each other again.

* * *

><p><strong>Nerima<strong>

"What? Why not?"

The source of the commotion in the Tendo home this time came from Nabiki's room. Inside, the middle daughter was working on some paperwork while her younger sister was gaping at her in disbelief from the door. A few moments before, Akane had entered, intending on getting information about where Ranma was going and where his relatives lived out of her sister. Nabiki rarely denied Akane information about the pigtailed boy if for no other reason than to stir the pot and reap benefits such as money or just for plain amusement. However, far from getting the information she wanted, Nabiki had stonewalled Akane's request.

"Because this time Ranma has a really good reason to go and he didn't want anyone from the Fiancée Brigade or his rivals following him, getting in the way, and making the whole thing that much worse in the process," Nabiki replied, looking up from her desk. "You have to admit that whenever you all try to follow him you end up making a pretty big mess out of just about anything."

"It wouldn't happen so much if he just wouldn't bring those hussies along all the time," Akane huffed, crossing her arms. Nabiki observed that her sister had conveniently forgotten that she had helped make a bad situation worse in the past. Such incidents included giving those diet pills to Ranma while he was pretending to be Picolet's fiancée and not telling him what they were or when she ate that super soba and had went on a destruction spree, thinking she could beat anybody while ignoring the warnings about the side-effects. "Now come on, we're sisters! You should at least be able to tell me!"

"You can't keep a secret to save your life," Nabiki retorted. "Once somebody asks you enough about it, you lose your temper and shout it loud enough for everyone in the district to hear. Don't try to deny it either, I have plenty of evidence on tape."

"I am not that bad," Akane frowned grimly.

"Oh, yes you are," Nabiki snickered. "Face it, Ranma wanted to do this alone and you aren't his keeper or the one holding his leash despite what you think and what Daddy and Mr. Saotome like to believe since they got onto this marriage bandwagon. Despite what you may think and what I may do while he lives under our roof, he does have the right to a little privacy."

"That's big coming from you!" Akane frowned.

"Hey, what he does outside of the house is his business," Nabiki shrugged. "It's not my fault he makes such a public spectacle of it all the time."

"Traitor," Akane growled as she stomped out of the room and down the hall, her footsteps making the lights shake as she went.

"Another day, another impending tantrum," Nabiki sighed as she returned to her papers. "Maybe she really is getting out of control."

* * *

><p><strong>Youshu<strong>

"Man, apology accepted," Ranma grinned as he and Taishiji met once again. Both he and the tanned teen were scuffed up, dirty, and more than a little bruised but they were both grinning despite whatever pain they were in. The fighters of Youshu around them were gaping after what they had seen and were still seeing. Both of the fighters had given their all and managed to really take the fight to a rarely seen level. The fight had taken only a short while thanks to the speeds the two were moving at, but it didn't end until Taishiji had been knocked over by a punch to his solar plexus. Rather than be upset, the two of them ended up laughing about it.

"Glad to hear it," Taishiji grinned. "You know, Youshu could always use another fighter like you."

"Yeah, but I think a guy like you is wasted on this place," Ranma shrugged. "Still, I have to get going and find Nanyo. See you around?"

"Sure," Taishiji nodded. "Remember the offer is here though."

"Got it," Ranma nodded, retrieving his pack and slinging it over his back. "See ya!"

Waving, Ranma set off in the direction of the next school. He had been surprised that someone of Taishiji's calibre was involved in the gang war which was in the Kanto region. However, he couldn't deny that it had been fun to finally fight someone honestly with nothing of real importance at stake. Sure, there was pride but no one was trying to force him to fight for his freedom, one fiancée or another, his life, or because of something his father did and shoved responsibility off to his son. Best of all, he managed to give it his all and still had not been able get away unscathed. Taishiji gave as good as he got, making Ranma's adrenaline surge and make him grin in a way he hadn't in years; euphoria. He finally got to fight for the sheer enjoyment he got from the martial arts.

"Man, this place is great!" Ranma laughed, leaping onto a streetlight. "Wonder what the next school is going to be like."

* * *

><p><strong>Hokkaido<strong>

"Achoo!" one Ryoga Hibiki sneezed as he trekked through the sandy beaches thinking he was on his way to Tokyo. Frowning, he looked up at the sky. "Dammit! Ranma must be feeling good about something! That's the only reason why I'm sneezing in the middle of summer! It has to be! DAMN YOU RANMA! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

* * *

><p><strong>Kanto<strong>

"Achoo!" Ranma sneezed, landing on the ground from his rooftop jump. Not noticing the people gaping at him, he rubbed his nose. "Man, someone must be talking about me. Probably one of the rivals, too. Cursing my name once again most likely." Shrugging off the thought of someone no doubt planning him bodily harm, Ranma continued walking.

He had managed to cover some considerable distance between Youshu and the next school he had been hoping to identify since roofhopping cut down the travel time that walking or even the bus would have needed to go anywhere. With any luck, it would be Nanyo but that was only a one in six chance of happening and his luck always sucked. Still, he had to at least try. Checking his map as he walked, he turned a corner and dodged someone who was running to get wherever it was they needed to go before he spotted his destination. It was the second of the seven schools and actually looked more like a respectable place. While Youshu held the name of a private school, it didn't really look like one. This school on the other hand actually did look like a private school. It was clean, the students in their uniforms looked well-dressed and somewhat stylish, and the entire place seemed respectable. It just served to make Ranma think it was a school for upper class folks even if it probably wasn't like that.

"Okay, now which of the seven is this one?" Ranma asked as he approached the front gate. Students began to take notice of him and several frowned as they spied the gold bead hanging around his neck. Again, the pigtailed martial artist didn't notice that as he finally found the sign. "Seito Private School. Damn." Rolling his eyes in annoyance, Ranma pulled out his map and marked the second spot as Seito.

"Um, excuse me?"

Ranma looked up from his map to see a girl talking to him. She wore the Seito uniform and had long brown hair done up in two ponytails with large glasses on her face. She was definitely cute in a sweet and innocent kind of way, but her most notable feature was probably her bust, possibly bigger than his girl form's. Still, there was something about her that Ranma's senses were telling him screamed power. It served to force Ranma to put his guard up despite how gentle and unassuming the girl seemed.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Are you lost? Are you trying to find the main office?" the girl asked. Somehow, her own guard seemed to rise despite her appearing to have no ability in the martial arts, but…Ranma had learned the hard way that looks could always be deceiving.

"Oh, no," Ranma denied with a shake of his head. "I was looking for Nanyo Academy and ended up here. Do you think I could ask you for some directions?" he asked hopefully, but it quickly ended when he felt a surge of aggression coming at him from behind, fast!

"GET AWAY FROM RYUUBI!"

Ranma immediately moved into action, dropping his pack and spinning on the spot to catch an incoming punch from a rather pissed off girl, one that reminded him way too much of a certain uncute tomboy from back in Nerima. She was shapelier that Akane to be sure and had brown hair which was a little longer than hers, but her attitude was a dead ringer for the youngest Tendo. Ranma could already tell that this girl had a habit of jumping to conclusions and not bothering to figure out if she was even right or not later. She also wore the Seito female uniform, indicating that she was from the same school, probably someone who knew the glasses girl. The bead on her ear just marked her out as one of the local fighters too.

"What the-?" Ranma blinked as the girl glared murderously at him. "Hey, what did I do?"

"Shut up and die!" the girl snarled, pulling back before going for another charge. "I won't let you touch our leader!"

"Chou-san!" the glasses girl gasped.

Ranma blocked another quick attack from the girl as their fight spilled onto the school property. The girl was quick, and reasonably skilled, but she definitely wasn't at his level. Grabbing another incoming punch, he grabbed the front of the girl's uniform and tossed her over his shoulder and onto the dirt with a loud thud. He had hoped that it would be enough to discourage her, but she was already on her feet in a flash and unleashing a combo of kicks aimed at Ranma's torso and face.

'_Has better battle instincts that the tomboy anyway,_' Ranma thought as he backed away from the flurry of kicks, dodging several of them as he did so. Normally Akane would have went for her usual 'charge at the target and hit it as hard as she could' plan. This girl knew way more moves than Akane did and when one didn't work, she would try something else as revealed when she tried to attack low with a sweep kick after rolling towards Ranma.

"Gonna have to do better than that!" Ranma teased, stopping the kick with his foot before kicking under her leg and knocking the angry girl on her back.

"Ow! Dammit!" the girl cursed as she attempted to stand back up again, but her legs were kicked out from beneath her, putting her on her back with the pigtailed martial artist standing above her, leaving absolutely no room for openings in her position.

"Now, are you going to calm down?"

"Screw you!" the girl shouted, kicking at the ground, using the force to slide backwards so she could leap back to her feet. "I'm going to kick your ass no matter how many flashy moves you have!"

"Haven't seen you show any kind of ability that could let you do that," Ranma frowned, unimpressed with her attitude and her skill level. Her moves were respectable, but they weren't anything that he would have looked twice at.

"Why you-!" the girl snarled. "You're gonna pay for that!"

"Then you'd better bring a butt-load of skill I haven't seen yet since you don't seem like anything special," Ranma taunted, making the short-haired girl practically seethe in anger from her position on the ground. However, her snarl quite suddenly turned into a smirk for some reason.

"Then maybe I can show you a thing or two," a new voice spoke from behind.

Ranma's eyes widened as his danger senses went off like a fire alarm. Forgetting his current opponent at the moment, he ducked and rolled, just dodging a naginata which had been aimed at his neck. As it was, his pigtail was several hairs shorter but it was better that his head vacating his shoulders. Skidding across the sandy dirt and coming to a stop several feet away, Ranma turned to see just who it was that had attacked him.

She was tall, taller even than his male form by a few inches. Her body was toned and taunt, showing intense training in the martial arts. She had tanned skin and long dark hair which almost touched the ground and held together with only a silver hair ornament. Slightly hidden behind her hair was one of the beads which fighters in the area wore, this one being silver. She had a Seito uniform on, but the skirt and top seemed short, revealing her long legs and her flat stomach. In her glove-covered hands was a real naginata which had a dragon's head on the top with a blade coming out of its mouth. Most people would look at her and assume that she was a very sexy and exotically beautiful girl or that the school hadn't been able to get a uniform for a girl of her height. However, Ranma suspected that she wore the modified uniform so to keep a full range of motion since some clothes had a habit of restricting movement. More than that, he could tell that this girl was a very powerful fighter, probably one of the best he had seen in a long time.

"You know, attacking from behind isn't exactly what I'd call fair," Ranma frowned as he stood up.

"True, but an attack on our school means we don't have the luxury of playing nice," the girl replied with a stoic stare. "So, just who are you? Which school are you with? Rakuyo? Youshu? Yoshuu?"

"My name's Ranma Saotome," the pigtailed martial artist replied. "I'm not with any of the seven schools. I was just looking for Nanyo and ended up here. I was going to ask for directions when your tomboy little friend playing in the dirt there tried to jump me for some reason."

"Oh?" the tall girl asked with narrowed eyes. Glancing at the girl in the dirt, but making sure to keep Ranma in her sights, she asked, "Is this true Chouhi?"

"He's an unknown fighter who was getting close to Ryuubi!" the tomboy, Chouhi Ekitoku, snapped as she rose from the ground. "If we don't know them then they're a threat to our leader! Of course I'd attack them but this guy just didn't want to go down!"

"As if I'd lose to a tomboy like you!" Ranma teased.

"What was that?" the Chouhi girl snarled, turning to Ranma.

"Enough!" the tall girl called out, bringing attention back to her. Her narrowed eyes were on Ranma once again. "Since you claim to be unaffiliated, we will have to keep you here until we can be sure you're not here to attack us or trying to assassinate our leader."

Ranma sighed at the proclamation, rubbing his eyes, "Look, if I wanted to hurt you people I would have done a lot worse to your friend than just make her eat dirt. I have got to get to Nanyo fast and I don't have time to play twenty questions with everyone who thinks I'm part of this little war. Now, please let me leave. I don't want to make any enemies here, least of all out of you, but I will fight my way out if it comes down to it."

"Ha! Good luck with that!" Chouhi laughed, her hands balled up on her hips. "Kanu here is one of the best fighters in all of Kanto! You try to fight her and you'll just be a smear on the ground! Even by some miracle you do manage to win then you'll have to deal with the likes of me, Chuo'un and all of the other fighters here!"

Ignoring the bragging Chouhi, much to her ire, Ranma turned his attention back to the naginata-wielding girl, "Kanu, huh? That's your name?"

"Yes. I am Kanu Unchou and I do hold the reputation for being one of Kanto's top fighters," the girl replied with a curt nod. "I'd really prefer if you come along quietly, but if you truly do intend to fight your way out of here then be warned I will be the one to ensure your failure."

Ranma smirked, his blood beginning to grow hot again at the prospect of fighting this girl. Despite his father's intentions, Ranma had no problems fighting girls. After the experiences he had fighting the likes of Kiima, Shampoo, Ukyo, and other female martial artists, it was quite clear that Genma's views on women were nothing but a load of bull, much like almost everything else he claimed to have wisdom on. Ranma just had a problem fighting weaklings since they didn't bring a thrill to the martial arts much like Taishiji said in their fight and he had to work hard so not to hurt them seriously rather than enjoy a good fight. Kanu's stance spoke novels about her skill and it made Ranma grow excited. He knew he could have just waited to prove that he was no threat to Seito, but he didn't want to waste any more time when Hakufu could be caught up in the middle of some brawl with people who were on Kanu's level.

…okay, he just wanted to see how good Kanu was too.

"Ready when you are then, Kanu," Ranma answered as he shifted into a stance.

Kanu eyed Ranma's stance and took one of her own, raising her naginata up. A hush fell across the yard as the two combatants stood across from one another. Chouhi seemed to be anticipating on a smackdown if the smirk was anything to go by, but the glasses girl from before seemed upset and afraid. Everyone else who was witnessing the event was keeping their distance, no doubt wanting to keep out of striking range of Kanu's weapon of choice.

A breeze blew through the silent field, neither Ranma nor Kanu making any move towards one another. A leaf drifted down from one of the nearby trees and seemed to be headed for the ground between the two fighters. The leaf drifted down so closely it could have touched the ground if positioned correctly, but in a flash, it was suddenly shredded as both fighters seemed to vanish before reappearing in front of each other, Kanu's naginata being blocked by Ranma's kick. A thunderous crash echoed out, sending dust in all directions and forcing the audience to shield their eyes. Neither Ranma nor Kanu stood still long as they began striking at one another, but was finding that it was like trying to hit through an invisible wall with all of the counterstrokes and blocks being used.

Kanu felt a bead of sweat drip down her face as she blocked blow after blow with her own strikes being blocked. She hadn't anticipated her opponent to be able to get so close to her while she wielded her usual weapon. Up in such close quarters like this, it was being more of a liability rather than a help. She would have to do something if she wanted to gain the upper hand against this pigtailed fighter. Twisting her naginata, she swung once again, anticipating a block. She wasn't disappointed as Ranma blocked the blow and used an upward kick in an attempt to knock the weapon from her hands. Rather than try to keep her grip, she allowed the naginata to be kicked from her hands before it landed in the dirt with its blade sticking into the ground. Far from stunned, Kanu took advantage of the opening and smashed her elbow into Ranma's chest with considerable force.

The pigtailed boy grunted and skidded across the open area, however with some distance between them, Kanu could see that he had shifted into the Karate's Goutai Hou, taking the blow with ease. Oh she knew he would be feeling the blow, but the amount of damage done wouldn't have been as much as she had first thought.

"You let me kick the weapon so to make an opening for yourself," Ranma grinned, his voice slightly strained from the painful blow.

"Yes, even if you managed to spot my attack and shift your position," Kanu nodded, taking her usual unarmed stance. "You sound impressed."

"Impressed? I think I'm in love," Ranma teased, taking a new attack stance.

"Uh?" Kanu blinked. The comment managed to throw her off guard and if one were standing close enough, they would have been able to see her cheeks tinge red, but her tan managed to hide it at the distance everyone was standing. Dismissing the blush, she reaffirmed her composure. "That's very flattering but it won't stop this fight."

"I'd be disappointed if it did," Ranma grinned.

Kanu couldn't help but let a smile of her own appear. If this fighter was trying to attack the leader of Seito or another fighter in their ranks then he was using very odd tactics. The casual way he was talking to her and not even going for one crippling or even lethal attack lent credence to his claims that he wasn't looking for trouble and was in fact looking for a different school. Of course, the fight was becoming too entertaining to let it just stop now.

"Then let's continue," she smiled.

"Gladly!" Ranma grinned, clenching his fists.

Charging at Kanu once again, Ranma had to admit that this was the most relaxed fight and conversation he had ever had with a girl. Well, even if she first thought that he was there to hurt someone but bad first impressions were pretty common with him.

* * *

><p><strong>Nerima<strong>

"RANMA YOU PERVERT!"

The passerby on the streets of the second-weirdest district in Japan flinched away as one Akane Tendo just suddenly screamed out and smashed a bench which was painted red with her mallet. No one was sure why she just did that, but everyone decided to steer clear of the short-tempered girl just in case she was beginning to lose all control of her temper at long last. Staring at the bench she just destroyed while people scurried past her, Akane couldn't help but blink at what she had just done.

"Huh?" she pondered. She wasn't sure why, but she was positive that Ranma was doing something perverted at the moment or otherwise her instincts wouldn't have made her lash out like that. Frowning, she recalled her mallet. "That pervert. I bet he's molesting some innocent girl or one of his floozies!"

Not noticing people giving her a very wide berth, Akane began heading towards the Nekohaten to try and demand information out of Cologne or Shampoo since they seemed to be the ones most likely to know simply out of what they were capable of and how much they had invested in their chase after him.

What she didn't know was that as she had lost her temper, Shampoo and Ukyo both snapped their own cooking implements for some reason but didn't know why.

* * *

><p><strong>Seito<strong>

The collected students of Seito were staring with open mouths as they watched one of their top fighters, Kanu Unchou, take on a self-proclaimed unaffiliated fighter Ranma Saotome. At first they thought that the unknown boy was going to get his ass beaten. Instead, they watched what was probably the first time they had seen their best fighter try so hard in a battle. As much as Kanu fought, the pigtailed fighter just seemed to roll with the attacks and return several of his own, managing to even hit Kanu during the exchanges.

Not that Ranma was getting away unscathed. Kanu had managed to strike him several times; leaving bruises which would no doubt take a while to heal. His clothes were scuffed up and he was favouring his right side slightly, but the huge grin on his face just wouldn't leave. For him, this was what martial arts were about, testing your skill against someone who was on your level, getting better and gaining experience in the process. There were no childish rivalries or people claiming revenge for stupid reasons. Your opponent didn't throw honour in your face so to try and make you do things their way or whine and/or lose their tempers when they took a hit, missed, or were losing. This was just two people who took pleasure in the art of battle. Of course, it didn't hurt that Kanu was very attractive either. Despite proof to the contrary, Ranma was not immune to or afraid to accept feminine charms. He just knew what would happen to him if he allowed himself to fall for the wrong girl like the girls of the Fiancée Brigade back home: kiss his freedom goodbye and hello to a life of enslavement to a woman who wouldn't have anything done which wasn't her way.

Both he and Kanu landed on the ground in a crouch. Kanu was breathing slightly heavy as was Ranma. She was sporting a few bruises which were easily visible thanks to her outfit being a bit more revealing than most school uniforms. However, she had a small smile on her face, indicating that she too was enjoying the fight.

"You certainly weren't boasting about your skill," she complimented.

"Neither were you," Ranma grinned. "Still, as much as I would prefer to see everything you've got, I still have to get to Nanyo. Let's say we finish this?"

"I suppose all good things must come to an end," Kanu nodded. "The next strike it is."

Nodding, Ranma shifted his stance, as did Kanu, both preparing themselves for the finishing blow. The audience was still, not wanting to break the moment between the two fighters. Another breeze wafted through the schoolyard. This time, a leaf didn't fall, but instead Ranma and Kanu burst into their speed again, charging at one another, ready to finish the attacks. Only the top-ranked fighters in the school could see what was going on clearly, and it was an impressive sight indeed.

WHAM!

Kanu and Ranma met in the centre of their battlefield, both having launched kicks at one another. Both blows had landed, digging into the sides of their targets. Ranma grimaced from the blow, once again feeling just how strong Kanu was from the power of her blow and likewise impressed at her speed, having managed to slip through his guard, probably at the same time he made his own kick which created that small opening in the first place. Of course, Kanu had likewise took her own hit, grimacing as she felt Ranma's foot bury itself into her own side. Feeling this kind of strength made her lose any lingering doubt that he was as good as he said he was. Both fighters knew that neither they nor their opponent were going to fall, so…

"A draw?" asked Ranma.

"I think so," Kanu nodded.

"Good because that's…going to leave a mark," The pigtailed fighter grunted as he brought his leg back and stumbled slightly.

"For me as well," Kanu grimaced, taking her own leg back. "I'm surprised my ribs didn't break from that kick."

"Hey, I'm not here to make enemies," Ranma chuckled. "Its bad form to break a new friend's ribs isn't it?"

"I suppose it is," Kanu chuckled. Inhaling with a wince to her ribs, the tall young woman stood straight. "I think it's safe to say that you aren't holding malicious intent towards Seito at the moment. If you were I dare say with the amount of skill in your possession you would have done worse to Chouhi than knock her down and would have probably tried to do worse to Ryuubi."

"Told you so," Ranma snickered. "So am I free to go?"

"By all means," Kanu gestured to the front gate. "Although I do hope you consider joining us here at Seito. Having someone of your calibre here would be beneficial to us all. Having you here personally would be rather pleasant to me."

"Tempting," Ranma smiled. "I'll think about it. I still have to get to Nanyo to find who I'm looking for. After that, who can say?" With a smile, Ranma grabbed his pack and walked towards the gates of Seito before vanishing around a corner. Kanu watched him go with a small smile on her face, wondering if she could perhaps add some 'incentive' to gain Ranma's interest in not only joining with Seito, but to spend more time with her.

* * *

><p><strong>Nerima<strong>

Nodoka stiffened as an odd sensation overcame her. It felt like a tingle which would run down her spine but it wasn't the kind she usually felt when Genma had done something stupid and ended up causing yet another mess for the family honour before trying to convince everyone that it was Ranma's fault that it was happening. This one made her feel excited in a way she had only rarely felt before. It felt similar to the tingle she got when her son would gain the attention of yet another fine young woman, but this felt stronger than that. While the previously mentioned tingle seemed to only affect one side, this one felt like it had her entire spine racing with the sensation. At first, she didn't know what to make of it. However, after a few moments of consideration…

Her manly son had finally found a girl he liked!

"MY! SON! IS! MANLY!" Nodoka cheered in delight as she went into her victory dance, waving her fans around, laughing about how the grandchildren she so desired would finally be arriving soon.

* * *

><p><strong>Kanto<strong>

"After all that, I forgot to ask for directions," Ranma grumbled as he trekked along a beach towards the next school. He had been in so much pain and adrenaline from his fight with Kanu, he had completely forgotten to ask which of the seven schools was Nanyo. Well, at least it wasn't a total loss since Kanu was an awesome fighter and dare he say it, exotically beautiful. He wouldn't have minded seeing more of her in the future…so long as he was sure the fiancées and the rivals were nowhere nearby. He had a feeling that Kanu would not treat unprovoked attacks on her as lightly as he did.

The sun was setting over the water and Ranma set his pack down with a sigh. By this point now, Nanyo was going to be empty save for probably some janitorial staff or some teachers with all of the students having gone home. Hakufu had told him that she was staying at Kokin's house, but Ranma had no clue where that was. He had only been there once before and was too young to remember directions like that. Trying to contact Hakufu probably wouldn't help either since she had just moved to the area and likely wouldn't know any directions save for how to get from Kokin's house to Nanyo and back again. His best bet in finding her would have to be getting to Nanyo during the day while all the students were there. Although, if the reception he received at Youshu and Seito were any indication, he would probably have to fight someone there too.

"Might as well set up camp for the night," Ranma shrugged as he began fiddling with his pack so he could get his camping gear out. It was all brand new since the last time he went on a training trip, the wrecking crew followed him in an attempt to either kill him or force him to marry one girl or another. The all-out brawl which ensued destroyed all of his gear and forced him to save up so he could get replacements. He made sure to beat up the rivals extra hard for their idiocy and ignored the fiancées for a good two weeks for that little stunt.

Pulling out a sleeping bag, Ranma got a fair distance from the shoreline so not to get splashed in his sleep before he slipped into the item and started catching some Z's. He wanted to get an early start in his search for Nanyo the next day.

* * *

><p><strong>Rakuyo<strong>

Rakuyo High School on the outside looked like a very prestigious school which had very modern facilities and up to date supplies and materials. It was a live-in school and as such provided rooms for their students, some of which lived in dorms while others had their own private rooms on campus. The school also had expansive greenhouses which played host to a number of beautiful flowers and even watermelons.

These greenhouses also played host to the leader of Rakuyo.

Inside one such greenhouse, in a round circular section of the path, a young man and two young women were present. The first young woman had tanned skin and aquamarine green hair which was done up into two ponytails. Hanging from her ear was one of the beads which all of the fighters would wear and it was coloured gold. Her figure could only be called bombshell and she wore the skirt and jacket of Rakuyo. However, her cleavage and rather large breasts were revealed through the jacket opening, easily revealing that she was not wearing a top underneath, possibly not even wearing a bra either. Her name was Ryofu Hosen, one of the top fighters of Rakuyo.

The second girl likewise wore the Rakuyo uniform, albeit completely rather than what she wanted like Ryofu did. She had long black hair which was tied in two ponytails which reached down her back. She also wore a pair of glasses over her eyes and her ensemble was completed with a silver bead on her right ear. Her name was Kaku Bunwa, a lower class fighter than Ryofu, but she had a mind for strategy which she used to become the leader's number 3.

Both girls were sitting respectfully in seiza position, sitting on their knees with their legs underneath them. With both girls with his head on Kaku's lap was a young man. He wore the boys' uniform for Rakuyo and was contentedly laying his head on Kaku's lap with an orchid in his hands while Kaku rested her fingers in his hair. The girl obviously didn't mind the closeness as she attended to him. Oddly, the boy was wrapped in numerous bandages on his face, arms, and possibly other places on his body. He also had short brown hair and a bead on his ear, but his was coloured blood red. His name was Totaku Chuuei, the leader of Rakuyo and probably one of the cruellest of all the leaders of the seven schools. At the moment, he was eyeing his orchid while Kaku was giving him a report.

"So this fighter claims to be unaffiliated?" asked Totaku in a pleasant voice which hid his cruel nature.

"Yes. His name is Ranma Saotome according to our reports from Youshu and he was looking for Nanyo. Apparently he didn't know he was at Youshu until he saw the sign," Kaku answered. "From what I was told, he doesn't know where Nanyo is and is searching each of the schools to try and find it."

"Hmmm. Interesting…and a bit amusing," Totaku smiled. "And you say he fought Taishiji and managed to defeat him?"

"He did, but neither of them was going all out since it was supposedly a friendly fight," Kaku nodded. "After the fight finished he left to continue his search. Agents we've stationed near Seito reported seeing him there. Again, he seemed to be searching for Nanyo and found that school instead."

"I see," Totaku nodded. "Was he challenged there too?"

"Yes," Kaku nodded. "Apparently he talked to Ryuubi Gentoku and Chouhi attacked him under the impression that he was a threat to her. He managed to dispatch the girl in short time, but then Kanu appeared and challenged him. Both battled for some time before it came down to a draw when both fighters managed to strike each other hard enough to mess with their perceptive abilities. Somehow, it was determined he wasn't a threat to them during the fight and Kanu let him go."

"How interesting," Totaku grinned, crushing the orchid in his hand. "Managing to fight Taishiji and win before fighting Kanu Unchou to a standstill and still being able to walk away under his own power. Where was he heading last?"

"According to reports, towards Kyosho Academy," the Number 3 replied. "He probably doesn't know which school it is and if the pattern continues he's probably going to have a fight on his hands."

"Now that would be interesting," Totaku grinned. Turning his head, he looked over to his Number 2. "Ryofu, would you be so kind as to find this Ranma Saotome? Let me know what he's up to out there and report back to me."

"Yes sir," the busty girl nodded before she stood up and headed for the exit of the greenhouse.

Watching Ryofu go, Totaku's smile didn't lessen, "Such an interesting fellow this Ranma Saotome is. How I hate loose ends though."

"We'll take care of it soon enough sir," Kaku reassured her leader.

"Hm," the bandaged boy shrugged, getting comfortable in Kaku's lap once again.

* * *

><p><strong>Kyosho<strong>

"Hey, who the hell is this guy?"

It was a new day in Kanto and the sun was shining. However, the tension was in the air over at the seaside school of Kyosho. On the nearby and all but private beach which was just behind the school, three students from the school were staring at the sleeping bag which contained a pigtailed guy who wore a gold bead around his neck.

The first student was a tanned guy with shaggy brown hair. He wore a white shirt with a green jacket complete with khaki shorts and sandals. He wore a white bead on his ear but despite this he was a pretty tough fighter in his own right. His name was Kakoton Genjou even though most people just called him Ton-chan for short. He was a pretty strange guy who preached about the basics of fighting a lot and even went out of his way to repair the damages caused in his fights to the surrounding area.

With him was a tall guy who probably was one of the few who wore the black school uniform of Kyosho. He had spiked blonde hair which stuck up and had a gold bead on his left ear. His name was Kakuka Houkou and he was a top-ranked fighter of Kyosho. He was a generally easygoing type of person but it certainly didn't take away from his skills.

Finally was the last of the trio. He wore a gray undershirt with an open white button-up t-shirt with khaki shorts and sandals. He had shoulder length brown hair and slightly tanned skin, hinting at a seaside life if anything else. On his left ear was a silver bead, but the color did not properly reveal his true power. His name was Sousou Motoku, the leader of Kyosho and the history of his name revealed his right to rule…along with one other ability he had which only two others had.

Sousou had a habit of napping whenever he could and used the beach behind Kyosho as one of his favourite spots. Kakuka and Kakoton were both the expected bodyguards a guy of his position usually had when he went anywhere. However, when they got there they found someone else using the beach instead.

"Any idea who he is?" asked Kakoton.

"No clue," Kakuka shook his head.

"Well, get him out of here I guess," Sousou sighed, scratching his head.

"Right!" Kakoton grinned. Dashing up to the sleeping fighter, he reared back his leg for a (reasonably) gentle kick to wake up the sleeper. "Hey! Wake up man!"

"Hnn.." the sleeping fighter mumbled, suddenly turning in his sleep at the last moment as Kakoton's kick completely missed him, causing the boy to yelp as he suddenly lost his balance and fall on his butt. Kakuka and Sousou both blinked at the sight, not expecting the sudden movement.

"Just luck," Kakuka sighed.

"…" Sousou frowned.

"Ow," Kakoton grumbled, getting to his knees. Clenching his fist, he reared back for a punch to the sleeper's head. "Hey! I said WAKE UP!"

"Un…"

The sleeper suddenly shifted in his sleep, dodging the punch to his head, rolling towards his attacker. Kakoton's punch easily missed and dug into the sand. Annoyed, Kakoton reared back for another punch, but it was suddenly cut short when the sleeping fighter curled up rather sharply, incidentally slamming his knees into the Kyosho student's stomach.

"URK!" Kakoton grunted, falling backwards, the breath driven from his lungs. "…ow!"

"What the-?" Kakuka blinked. "Is that guy awake?"

"No. He's still asleep," Sousou chuckled. "This guy must have trained so hard he can tell when attacks are coming in his sleep. Hell, he's even able to avoid them. That's pretty impressive. And here I thought all I had to look forward to was my usual nap after breakfast today."

"Zzz…whu….breakfast?" The sleeping fighter was suddenly roused from his sleep, sitting up and looking around as if he were still half asleep. Rubbing his eye, he looked around, seeing Kakoton getting up from the blow to his stomach and likewise spotting Kakuka and Sousou watching him with curiosity. With a yawn, he started speaking, "What the…? Who are you guys?"

"I'm Sousou Motoku, the leader of Kyosho Academy," the tanned leader spoke. "This is our beach you're on so just who the heck are you?"

"Me? Oh, name's Ranma Saotome," the pigtailed fighter replied, slipping out of his sleeping bag. Wrapping it up, he stuffed it back in his pack and stood up. "So you guys are from Kyosho? Where's that?"

"It's right behind you, you dummy!" Kakoton cried, pointing at the building which was opposite of the shoreline.

Ranma turned to where the fighter was pointing and saw the building which he claimed was Kyosho Academy. He definitely didn't recall seeing it the night before, but in his defence, the building was showing its back and the front was the only part which had the sign on it. Nodding, Ranma pulled out his map of the Kanto area before examining the map, looking for the area where Kyosho was. "Must have been further along than I thought. I thought Kyosho was farther away than this."

"We all make mistakes," Sousou shrugged, walking closer to Ranma with Kakuka sticking close in case things devolved into a fight. "So just what brings you our way anyway? You looking to join up or are you working for one of the other schools or something?"

"Neither," Ranma answered, marking the only seaside school as Kyosho on the map before turning his full attention onto Sousou. "I've got a relative who started at Nanyo yesterday. I heard about the whole war your school and six others are going through and decided to come and make sure if she was okay. Problem is my map doesn't tell me which of these damn schools are which. I ended up at Youshu and Seito yesterday looking for Nanyo."

"Youshu? That's under Rakuyo's control," Kakuka frowned. "They'll pick a fight with anyone who isn't on their side."

"Yeah, that Hanno jerk and his thugs seemed pretty quick to pick a fight," Ranma nodded. "At least until that Taishiji guy stopped them. He's a pretty cool guy. Awesome fighter too."

"Wait," Kakoton blinked. "You mean you actually picked a fight with Taishiji Shigi? Are you nuts man? Youshu may be weak, but he's one of the top fighters!"

"I can believe that. It was a great fight," Ranma grinned with a chuckle. "We were keeping it light, but I still managed to win. Still, as fun as fighting Taishiji was, Kanu was way tougher. I haven't fought anyone like her in a long time."

"Kanu. You fought Kanu Unchou from Seito too?" asked Sousou with a raised eyebrow. "Just how are you still alive much less in one piece?"

"Ah, I just convinced them that I wasn't trying to hurt anyone," Ranma shrugged. "All I'm really here for is to make sure my cousin is okay and probably train her up a bit so she can take care of herself before I head back home. Listen, do you think you guys could do me a favour and point out where Nanyo Academy is? I'm tired of finding the wrong schools and I don't want to pick fights with any of them unless they deserve it."

Sousou scratched his head, unsure if he should believe the pigtailed fighter's words but merely shrugged, "Sure. Let me see that map," Taking the map from Ranma's hands, Sousou looked it over and took Ranma's pen before beginning to mark sections of the map. "Okay, if you kept going like you were, you would have either hit Yoshuu or Rakuyo next. They're allies and connected to Youshu. They probably know to keep an eye out for you by now so I'd avoid them if you're serious about not picking fights. Nanyo is a bit further along."

"Thanks man," Ranma nodded, taking his map and pen back. "Okay, I'll be off then. Sorry about just intruding on your beach."

"It's okay. You didn't know," Sousou shrugged.

"Thanks. See ya!" Ranma grinned, taking his pack and dashing towards the path back up to the streets.

Watching him go, the three Kyosho students began to talk once he was out of hearing range. Kakoton started first, easily being the most energetic of the three, "Do you really think he took on Taishiji and Kanu and managed to survive?"

"Unlikely," Kakuka frowned. "If he did though, we might start considering trying to recruit him before the next Big Fighters Tournament. He'd be an asset."

"Yeah," Sousou agreed. "Before we try though, let's start getting some information on him and see if his story is true," suddenly yawning, the leader of Kyosho began heading to a sunny spot on the beach before lying down, resting his head on his arms. "In the meantime though, I'm going to catch some Zs."

* * *

><p>Ranma continued on his trek, walking through the streets of the city as he looked over his map. He had been honest about wanting to avoid other schools since he didn't want to start anything with the local top dogs unless he had to. Of course, if Kanu and Taishiji's reputations were truly great, then the guys at the top probably already knew about him and were likely already asking questions. Most likely that would either end up in a 'pre-emptive' assault on him or some recruitment offers to join their side of the fight. Still, Ranma wasn't in Kanto to join up in the war, but to try and make sure Hakufu was safe.<p>

Turning a corner, Ranma entered an alley. With a sigh, he pocketed his map, slipped his pack from his shoulders before letting it rest on the ground. Finally, he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "Are you going to follow me around like some stalker all day or are you just going to say what you want?"

There was silence in the alley at first but it didn't last long before someone leaped down from one of the shorter buildings, landing with a light tap. The person was female, wearing a school uniform which had a red blazer and a green skirt. She also wore socks which were bunched up slightly as the latest fashion statement and black shoes. Her skin was a sexy bronze, making Ranma wonder how popular the beaches of Kanto were. Her hair was a sea foam shade of green and her face was sensually mature for a high school girl. One aspect about her he tried not to gawk about was how her cleavage seemed to be squeezed together by her jacket and how it may be she wasn't wearing anything beneath it.

"Well, well, I didn't think I'd be spotted," the girl smirked. "When did you figure it out?"

"You started following me after I left Kyosho," Ranma answered. "I let you follow so we'd be able to get some privacy where none of the schools would try to interfere in case you were an enemy to one of them. Now, just who are you and why are you following me?"

"You know how to take charge. I think I like that," the girl continued to smirk sensually. "My name is Ryofu Hosen. I'm from Rakuyo High School. I was ordered to find you and see if the rumours about you were true. Youshu is under our school's control you know and we have to consider if an attack on them is going to end as an attack on us."

"They attacked me first," Ranma sighed. "I was just looking for Nanyo and ended up there. Hanno was the one who started everything. My fight with Taishiji was just a friendly match."

"Okay, I'll buy that. Hanno is pretty stupid." Ryofu nodded as she slowly walked towards Ranma. If it was to show she wasn't a threat or because she wanted to keep acting sexy he wasn't sure but he kept his mind calm just in case. Even he could admit this girl knew how to appear sexy to the extreme and if it weren't for his Soul of Ice mixed with his usual experience with girls from Nerima, he probably would have had jelly for a brain right then. "What really got our attention though was your little match with Kanu Unchou. She is one of the top ranked fighters out here and to hear someone managed to fight her to a draw in a serious fight, someone who no one has seen before, well, you can imagine we might get a little jumpy."

"I suppose," Ranma sighed. "I did fight Kanu, but that was only because her tomboy friend Chouhi attacked me first thinking I was some kind of threat to a girl named…Ryuubi, I think. Kanu intervened and we fought. You really don't know someone until you fight them in my experience so that was how I convinced Kanu I wasn't a threat. After that, she let me go and I left."

"Where you ended up at Kyosho," Ryofu nodded, stopping her stride so that she stood only half a foot away from Ranma. Keeping up her sensual smile, she began tracing a finger up and down Ranma's chest. "Hmmm, you know, hearing that those rumours about you are true just makes you all the more interesting. Care to go someplace for a while and…get to know each other a little bit?" she finished with a smoky look in her eyes.

Once again Ranma was faced with situation similar to what the Fiancée Brigade would try on him, but it was so much more tempting with Ryofu offering. Like Kanu, she was exotically beautiful and her appeal was made greater by the fact that she was a fighter. Still, she had openly admitted to coming from Rakuyo, the current top dogs who might have a problem with him taking on one of their guys in a fight and winning. For all he knew, Ryofu was trying to soften him up before taking him down or trying to convince him to join up with them. The former seemed more likely given the circumstances, but Ranma was always willing to give the benefit of the doubt with people he just met.

"Sorely tempted," Ranma replied, slipping slightly deeper into the Soul of Ice. "But I have to get to Nanyo to check on a few things first. After that, we'll see what happens."

"Fair enough," Ryofu shrugged, withdrawing her hand and her teasing touch. "If you every want to take me up on my offer though, you can find me at Rakuyo. Just ask around, they'll lead you right to me."

"I'll...keep it in mind," Ranma nodded, suppressing the urge to gulp.

"Good," the sensual girl smiled before she turned to leave. Casting her smoky gaze over her shoulder, she added, "See you around then Handsome," With a backhand wave, she walked away, vanishing around a turn out of the alley, her lovely hips and derriere swinging the whole way.

Ranma heaved a sigh as he got his normally dormant hormones under control. Seeing a beautiful girl who practically defined provocative or sexy wasn't anything new to him. Shampoo and Kodachi definitely filled that definition with how they dressed. No, what made both Kanu Unchou and Ryofu Hosen stand out so much was the way their eyes would see him. The Fiancée Brigade would always look at him in shallow lust, anger, disappointment, and above all else, judgement. They would always gaze at him, always judging him against whatever they wanted him to be in their lives. Ukyo and Shampoo always wanted a subservient husband, one for making kids and the other helping run a restaurant. Kodachi wanted her muscled dream man who would bow to her every whim and Akane just didn't seem to know what she wanted but still blew her top whenever Ranma didn't act like it.

Kanu and Ryofu were different. Both girls didn't hold any judgement in their eyes. They just had caution as they carefully eyed him to see if he was a threat or not. They didn't look at him like raw husband material or property ready to be claimed. They looked at him like an equal, a warrior, someone who they could take seriously. Those girls saw him on the same level they stood, not eternally above him because they were girls or had a so-called claim on his future. Being treated like an equal when almost everyone else he knew treated him like he was below them was something Ranma found very appealing in a girl. Most girls in Nerima either wouldn't go near him or saw him as below them in some way while most of the boys stayed back and admired his situation like it was paradise.

"Man the girls here are something," he sighed to himself before scratching his head. "Ah well, better keep going." Grabbing his pack, he slung it over his shoulder before heading back out to the streets and back on track for his journey to Nanyo.

Ryofu turned the corner Ranma watched her leave at before travelling down a street and stopping at one of the local bus stops. She may have acted cool and seductive, but inside she was cautious and observant. Ranma Saotome certainly had skill, being able to notice that she had been following him since he left Kyosho. Hearing about how he fought Taishiji and Kanu straight form his mouth certainly proved the rumours true, but the way he talked about the battles seemed like he was just talking about hanging out with his friends. She also noticed how he struggled not to stare at her cleavage when he first saw her. Most likely he was a virgin and that meant that there might be an opening in getting him to join up with Rakuyo if Totaku decided that he would make a good addition.

'_I might just volunteer in that case,_' Ryofu thought to herself with some amusement. While she really did prefer women over men most of the time, if she found a man who gained her interest enough, she would be doing the wild thing with him just as easily as she would with girls. So far only two men had earned her affections and only one of them really had it because he was so damn powerful and made her jumpy while the other she truly felt genuine affection for. Ranma Saotome, if things turned out well, could end up being number three.

Still, the way he positioned himself when he was talking to her…Ryofu saw very few openings to exploit and what few there were had been very small and well protected. Ranma had apparently suspected she may have searched him out for a fight in retaliation for what he did at Youshu. Not even when he got flustered over her assets did those openings begin to widen. He was ready to go at any time and if his skill was as great as he said, Ryofu doubted she would have an easy time about it.

"Definitely an interesting one," the busty girl smiled to herself as the bus began to approach.

* * *

><p>The better part of the day was spent by Ranma heading over to Nanyo. He took care to avoid going near Rakuyo and Yoshuu since he didn't want to start anything with those schools unless the situation forced him to. He didn't have any money left for busses and while roofhopping was always an option, he didn't know the area well enough to do that for such a great distance and would just risk getting lost. As such, he had to take the long way there on the streets. By the time he got there, the sun was beginning to sink towards the horizon, turning the sky bright orange.<p>

Nanyo Academy looked like a pretty good school, again, one of those schools where stereotypical regular folks would get their kids to achieve good education and such. It was pretty clean cut and respectable on first impressions. One wouldn't have been sure that a war was going on involving the students of this school. In fact, they just would have thought that this was a perfectly normal high school with perfectly normal students.

The circle of thirty or more thugs around one shorter guy tended to say otherwise though.

"Figures," Ranma sighed, shrugging off his pack and tossing it to the side. Advancing on the group, he eyed their target. The guy in the middle seemed to be of average height and a lithe build, meaning he had speed more than muscle on his side. His stance spoke of skill in martial arts but how much remained to be seen. He had short dark hair which seemed almost blue in a way with a strand sticking out on top of his head. On his left ear was one of those beads, meaning the guy was a fighter, but this one was white. Still, something about him seemed pretty darn familiar. The face looked about the same and the hair was similar to a face of his past. It had been almost a decade, but Ranma was sure…

"OI!" he shouted loudly, catching the collected fighters' attention. Looking to the guy in the middle, Ranma continued. "You in the middle, the short guy. Are you Kokin Shuyu?"

"Huh?" the boy blinked. "Yes I am. Who are you? Did you get the Imperial Order too?"

"Imperial Order?" Ranma blinked, advancing on the group. "Hey, I just got here. Name's Ranma Saotome. Don't you remember me?"

"Saotome?" the boy, Kokin blinked, still keeping his guard up as the other fighters watched with confusion. Kokin likewise showed confusion until he eyes widened in shock. "Wait…RANMA! No way! What are you doing here?"

"Heard about the problems out here and decided to make sure if everyone was okay," the pigtailed fighter shrugged before he stopped in front of the group. "Speaking of that, you seem to be in something of a spot yourself. Need a hand?"

"Well…it would be appreciated, but…" Kokin admitted, watching the other fighters with trepidation.

"Hey," a fighter with a bandanna on his head frowned, stepping up in front of Ranma. "This is an Imperial Order for the destruction of Kokin Shuyu. Don't interfere or else we'll just do the same to you!"

"I'm shaking in my boots," Ranma frowned.

"Ranma…don't do anything stupid," Kokin frowned, fearing that he would get caught up in the upcoming fight.

"Then you can die too!" the bandanna fighter growled, launching his fist at Ranma with perhaps higher than average strength. It seemed that the blow would hit since Ranma wasn't moving, but that didn't last long. At the last moment, Ranma swerved around the attack, spun, and slammed his elbow into the fighter's stomach, "GAH!" The fighter slumped forward, his breath completely knocked from his lungs. He didn't have time to get it back though before Ranma's foot met his face and knocked him backwards onto his back, skidding in the dirt. Kokin and the collected fighters stared in surprise at what had just happened.

"Now," Ranma frowned, withdrawing his foot. "Are you thugs going to give this a second thought or do are some of you wanting to see just how many ways you can get your butts kicked?"

The fighters shivered slightly, not so much by the threat, but the show of skill and strangely enough, the gold bead hanging from Ranma's neck. Kokin himself seemed to finally notice it as well, his eyes widening at the sight of it. However, before he could really say anything about it, one of the fighters, one with long hair and sunglasses, decided that they had numbers on their side and shouted out loudly, "Kill them both!" The call rallied the enemy fighters and they all began charging at either Ranma or Kokin, fists and weapons at the ready.

The battle was on.

* * *

><p>On the rooftop of Nanyo, one of the students watched the thugs begin to fight Kokin and Ranma…and be thoroughly routed by the both of them. He had shoulder length sandy brown hair and a rather handsome face. He wore the proper Nanyo uniform as well: white shirt, pants, yellow sleeveless sweater, red tie, and shoes. He was called Saji Genpou by the other students and was one of the Big Four of Nanyo, their best fighters. He was also something of a womanizer, but that was neither here nor there. At the moment, he eyed the new fighter who interrupted the order.<p>

"Well, well, this was unexpected," he commented idly as he watched Ranma defeat a fighter with a five kick combo to a thug's vital points as if the guy was standing still with his arms wide open. "Still, it might be good to see just what this new guy can do. Nothing like free entertainment to get the blood flowing anyway."

His words may have been light-hearted and his posture relaxed, but his eyes were stern and sharp, indicating just how closely he was watching the battle and the new wild card.

* * *

><p>WHAM!<p>

"UGH!" the last fighter went down in a heap courtesy of Kokin's punch to the face. The blue-haired boy was breathing hard, resting his hands on his knees as he was hunched over slightly as he struggled to get his breath back. Over at the other end of the fight, Ranma was breathing fine, having dispatched the last of his own opponents not even a minute before Kokin did. The pigtailed boy himself looked around to see if there were anymore conscious fighters, but was satisfied to find none. They had all fought and had been beaten down, proving they at least had more balls than most thugs.

"All right Kokin," Ranma sighed, advancing on his cousin's cousin. "Just what the heck was all this about? What did that one guy mean by an Imperial Order?"

"He means…our leader…ordered it," Kokin panted. "Our leader Enjyutsu is the only one who can give orders like that. It was probably him who ordered all these fighters to attack me. Although, I certainly wasn't expecting to see you of all people to show up when those fighters appeared."

"Yeah, I'm full of surprises," Ranma sighed. "Okay, so where's Hakufu? Is she okay?"

"Uh…I'm not sure," Kokin frowned. He was silent for a moment before he gasped. "Wait, she said something about the locker room. She's probably there!"

"Then what are we waiting here for?" demanded Ranma. "This Enjyutsu jerk might have made one of those Imperial Orders against her too!"

"Right! Follow me!" Kokin gasped, taking off running towards the school. Ranma followed close behind, not knowing where anything in the school was. Both boys ran through the doors of the school before reaching the first staircase. "The locker room in on the third floor! If we hurry then she might still be there!" Running up the stairs, both boys were suddenly blocked by another Nanyo student who was leaning against the wall with his leg resting on the railing.

"Wipe away anyone who would interfere with the execution," he spoke, scratching his sandy brown hair. "That was part of the order too." The boy then looked down at both Kokin and Ranma. "That goes for anyone who would interfere. Not being part of our school doesn't make you immune from the order."

"Who's this guy?" Ranma asked with a frown. The guy may have acted like a slacker, but he had a kind of power radiating from him that put Ranma on edge. Martial arts wise, he was stronger than all of the thugs outside, but he wasn't near what he would have faced with the likes of Taishiji, Kanu, or Ryofu. Still, he would be able to beat Kokin black, blue, and bloody if the shorter boy used the extent of his skills outside.

"This is Saji Genpou, one of the Big Four here at Nanyo and one of the four who meet with Enjyutsu," Kokin answered. Looking up to Saji, he spoke, "Please let us through Saji! We have to get to Hakufu!"

"Sorry, can't do that. Orders are orders you know," Saji snickered, standing up straight. "Or…you can fight me to get past too. I don't mind," removing his hand from his pocket, he cracked his fingers, the noise echoing through the space. "Care to take me on?"

"Kokin, we don't have time for this guy," Ranma frowned, his own fists clenching. "I'll take him on. You go find Hakufu."

"Oh, you'll handle me so easily?" Saji snickered, bringing both his hands from his pockets.

"Compared to fighting the likes of Taishiji and Kanu, yeah, I'd say I can handle you pretty easy," Ranma smirked. For once, Saji's smirk slipped at the mention of two top-ranked fighters. Ranma spoke from his personal experience of fighting the two and from the sheer confidence in his voice, he hadn't lost either, something Saji was good at picking up in the actions of others. However, as Ranma began to advance, Kokin put his arm out in front of him. "Kokin?"

"Ranma, you go and find Hakufu," he frowned. "Once you get up the stairs, turn left and head to the end of the hall. That's where the locker room is and probably where Hakufu is too. I'll hold Saji off here while you get her."

"Kokin, this guy is out of your league!" Ranma hissed. "He'll pulverise you!"

"Yes, but you're more skilled than I am. I saw that much when you took on several of those thugs outside," Kokin replied. "Hakufu might already be in the middle of an attack and the ones who usually execute assassinations are the Big Four. You'd have a better chance of saving her than I do."

"Kokin…" Ranma frowned.

"How noble," Saji grinned. "Still, that's all based off the assumption that you can get past me without getting in a fight. Are you sure you wanna try?" The older boy's stance changed slightly, but it was ready for any kind of attack that could come his way.

"Against a guy like you? Easy," Ranma grinned, his knees bending slightly in preparation to move. "Don't blink or you just might miss it."

"Bring it on then," Saji smirked.

Ranma was standing still for only a moment, but he then charged like a shot. Saji's eyes widened as he barely had time to even contemplate moving, 'So fast!' Lashing out of sheer battle instinct, he attempted to block Ranma's charge by grabbing him. Ranma observed that Saji didn't seem to be a slouch in the speed department himself, but Ranma had long since mastered aerial movements. Using the wall beside him as a surface to move off of, Ranma kicked off of it and then used Saji's arm as a surface to spring over the dirty blonde with his hand. Flipping over the stunned Nanyo student, Ranma landed on the ground with a grin. Glancing at Saji's back, he slapped him on the small of his back, making him stumble slightly and struggle to keep his balance on the steps lest he fall down them and onto Kokin.

"Hey, you blinked!" Ranma grinned. Getting up, he started bolting up the stairs before vanishing from sight. "See ya!"

Windmilling his arms, Saji managed to get his balance back. However, Ranma's footsteps could already be heard heading onto the third floor and vanished as the distance grew. The blonde womanizer sighed, glancing upstairs, "Well, how do you like that? He actually got past me," Shaking his head, he looked back down at Kokin who had taken on a fighting stance, likely a Chinese kempo of some kind. "Well now, I suppose you're going to distract me while your buddy goes to rescue Ms. Booby Bombs?"

"For as long as I can," Kokin frowned.

"Well, I suppose I can't have you mucking things up worse than they already are," Saji shrugged. "Best to put you down now so you can't interfere."

Kokin clenched his teeth and prepared to attack.

* * *

><p>Ranma practically burst into the hallway of the third floor, quickly darting to the left as per Kokin's instructions. Running, he looked for any sign of his cousin, hoping that the Imperial Order which had apparently been sent out would not apply to her. Running at one of his highest speeds, he hoped that whoever Enjyutsu was, he didn't think executing Hakufu was necessary.<p>

Turning a corner, Ranma saw that he was wrong.

Hakufu was there, dressed in a Nanyo girls uniform which was similar to the boys uniform save for the red bow on the front and the red skirt. However, she was on her knees and her front was ripped open to reveal a pink bra underneath. The reason she was on her knees was because another girl had her neck locked between her thighs and her right arm locked in her own arms. She wore blue gloves and had black boots with blue socks on as well. She had short blue hair and a beauty mark near her mouth, but the oddest thing about her was that she had one blue eye and one gray eye. Ranma's trained eyes could also see that the grappling move the bluenette was using was cutting off blood flow in Hakufu's neck and she was already losing consciousness. That kind of move could result in serious damage if it was held for too long, depriving blood flow and oxygen to the brain.

"WHY DON"T YOU JUST FINISH ALREADY?" the bluenette demanded, almost hysterically. "WHAT IS SONSAKU? WHAT IS THE HAO? DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!"

Ranma saw red…

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY COUSIN YOU BITCH!" he bellowed, charging at the pair at a speed many wouldn't be able to catch

Ranma was usually a guy who could keep his temper in check most days. Granted, he tended to get pretty mad when you started questioning his manhood and belittle him for his curse, steal his food, or other such things. However, those kinds things usually were dealt with from case to case with a simple bonk to the skull or a painful sparring practice. Almost everyone in Nerima thought they had seen Ranma angry, but that was far from the truth. Ranma's rage barely saw the light of day. Trained as a martial artist, he made sure his emotions were kept firmly in check, the ones which could distract him anyway. His ego was another story altogether. However, his rage was usually kept well under control unless something or someone he truly felt strongly about was threatened. Once a long time ago that someone was Akane and his rage had resulted in the death and subsequent rebirth of Saffron.

Roaring like a beast, Ranma was upon the pair in an instant. The bluenette was in the middle of her battle ecstasy and probably wasn't paying the best attention to her surroundings. Her twisted pleasure quickly ended when Ranma's foot impacted into her side, lifting her clear off the ground and incidentally breaking her grip on her captive. She hadn't even registered the full pain of the kick which sent her sailing as she seemed to hover for a moment before Ranma unleashed another kick into her abdomen. This time, the attack used so much force it sent her hurtling through the air before crashing against the locker room door, caving it in before the hinges failed and it fell backwards, taking the girl with it.

Rage satisfied for the moment, Ranma looked down at his dazed cousin. Quickly kneeling down at her side, he gently sat her up as he tried to rouse her, "Hakufu! Hakufu! Wake up! It's me, Ranma!"

"Unnnnnn," the usually perky strawberry blonde groaned, her eyes dazed and her mind obviously clouded. "Ran-chan…wanna play…bored…hungry…"

"Hakufu…" Ranma sighed. Even dazed and confused, she never seemed to stray from her thoughts; Food and keeping amused.

A groan from the end of the hallway brought Ranma's mind back to the fight. Setting Hakufu against the wall, he stood up and stepped forward so to keep her behind his back at all times. At the end of the hallway, the bluenette stepped out of the locker room and the remains of its doorway in and out. She was gritting her teeth with her eyes narrowed and momentarily clutching her abdomen where Ranma had kicked her, but she seemed to be swallowing the pain so she could continue, "Who the hell are you?" she demanded hotly.

"Your worst nightmare now that you've tried to go through with that Imperial Order," Ranma answered, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"My worst nightmare huh?" the girl frowned, standing up straight despite what pain she was probably in. "I should be saying that to you. Don't you know who you're dealing with?"

"Enlighten me," Ranma answered.

"Ryomou Shinmei. One of the Big Four of Nanyo Academy," the girl answered beginning to advance on Ranma. "Now that you've gotten in the way, I'll have to get rid of you before I can move on to Hakufu Sonsaku."

"Provided you can beat me," Ranma frowned. "And I know for a fact that will never happen."

"So you say," Ryomou frowned, tightening her gloves. "But in my experience, it always does!" With a battle cry, she charged at Ranma, intent on getting him out of the way and continuing her orders.

* * *

><p>"GAH!" Kokin cried out as a punch from Saji sent him sailing into the metal railing of the staircase before he slumped to the floor. His face was bleeding in several places and his arms were bruised darkly from all the blocks he took. Underneath his uniform, his chest was similarly bruised, but much bigger since they all came from attacks which had slipped through his defences and struck him as if they were unopposed in the first place.<p>

"Gotta admit, you're lasting longer than I thought," Saji admitted, standing at the foot of the stairs leading up to the next floor. "Still, stringing you along like this is probably not a good idea so I'll be putting you down for good now."

Kokin grunted and tried to stand, but he couldn't see straight. What he could see was Saji advancing, coming for what seemed like the finishing blow to either kill him or incapacitate him so to keep him from interfering with the assault on Hakufu.

Saji advanced, rubbing his fist in preparing for the final punch, however, as he was taking his third step, his legs suddenly gave out beneath him, "What the-!" he gasped as he dropped to his knees. He struggled with his legs, trying to get some kind of response from them, but found nothing. He could still feel them, but he just couldn't get them to move. Trying to figure out what had happened, he suddenly remembered being slapped on the small of his back by the pigtailed guy. Realizing that a pressure point or some similar technique had been used, he began to chuckle softly to himself, "Geez. Boy did I get fooled."

"H-huh?" Kokin blinked.

"Looks like we're both out of this fight," Saji sighed, pushing himself back against the stairwell with his arms. "Your pigtailed buddy must have hit me with a pressure point which makes my legs useless. Apparently he thought you'd hold out long enough against me to have it take effect. Damn he's good."

'_Ranma,_' Kokin thought to himself.

That was when a loud crash echoed from above and shards of glass could be seen falling from the windows above.

* * *

><p><strong>Moments Before…<strong>

Ryomou and Ranma were clashing heatedly. The female member of the Big Four was attempting to go with her grappling moves in order to choke and subdue the intruder, but she was finding it extremely difficult to find an opening for such a move. Ranma had slipped into Drunken Fist, one of the more flexible styles he knew, dipping and swerving around each of Ryomou's attacks, usually managing to hit her at an awkward angle. Not that Ranma was getting away unscathed in their exchanges. Ryomou was skilled at swerving and managed to use some of Ranma's attacks to get around him and slam her feet into his back or head or slide under him so to try to strike at his legs. Each attempt left him sore, but he quickly twisted away from her so to avoid being caught in one of her lethal grappling moves.

"Dammit! Just fall down already!" Ryomou cried angrily.

"No way!" Ranma growled, attempting another sideways punch. It would have been a good hit, but Ryomou managed to catch a glimpse of it coming and was already moving. Grabbing his arm, she turned it around behind him, moving with it before she leaped up and wrapped her legs around his neck. Hooking her ankles together, she hung back, letting gravity add a little more weight to her legs, her calf pressing against Ranma's throat while her thighs added pressure. Her grip on his arm remained strong, giving her even more leverage.

"Now I'll show you what it means to cross Ryomou Shinmei!" the bluenette snarled, putting even more pressure on Ranma's throat through her legs.

"NGH!" Ranma sputtered. Normally for a move like this all he'd have to do is fall backwards to either force Ryomou to let him go or to plant her into the floor. However, it didn't escape his notice that she had injected some of her ki into him when she managed to get her grapple to hold. He could feel it pulse around his body, making his muscles freeze. The girl knew her grappling inside and out, even using ki techniques to make sure her targets didn't try to use their faults against her.

'Good, but not good enough,' Ranma thought, pushing his significantly higher amounts of ki against the paralyzing pulse and nullifying it. Feeling the muscles in his legs relax again, he choked out his next sentence. "Pretty good…but you're…forgetting about…one thing!"

"Oh? And what's that?" Ryomou frowned.

"My ki…beats yours!" Using his free hand, Ranma pointed at the wall and windows in front of him with his free hand before unleashing one of his signature moves, "Moko Takabisha!" The concentration confidence ki blew out from his hand, smashing against the wall and shattering all the windows and creating a caved-in section. However, Ranma hadn't braced himself and instead allowed the recoil to launch him against the wall, with Ryomou between himself and the solid surface.

"AGH!" the bluenette gasped in pain, but rather than let go, she managed to start grasping Ranma's neck with her legs even tighter than before! Her face partially concealed by the wall, she managed to speak, "It'll take…more than that!"

"Fine!" Ranma grimaced, his vision starting to get a little fuzzy. Damn this girl was stubborn! "I call this next one, One Thousand Years of Pain!" Clenching his hand with two fingers sticking out, Ranma thrust his hand upwards and backwards and introduced his fingers to a one way street which Ryomou knew very well.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

* * *

><p>"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"<p>

"What?" Kokin gasped, still a bloody mess with Saji still crippled in front of him. "That…didn't that sound like Ryomou?"

"Sure did. Even better, I recognize that kind of scream," Saji snickered. "Girls always get a little vocal when they use their back entrance for the first time. Only this time it probably wasn't as gentle as most partners would try to be."

"Huh?" Kokin blinked.

"You'll find out once you go all the way," Saji answered cryptically.

Ryomou was on the floor grasping her ass as she tried to will the pain away. Really, no matter how tough one was, if the pain had come from a place they had never had pain before then they were going to react to it. How tough they were just determined how quickly they would be able to recover from it. Some feet away from the grimacing bluenette was Ranma, taking deep breaths so to get his breath back while he furiously rubbed his two fingers in his shirt, wanting to get them cleaned off.

"Can't believe I did that," he grunted. "Need a bath tonight."

"GRRRRR!" Ryomou snarled, getting to her knees and glaring at Ranma with supreme hatred. "You bastard! I'll kill you for that!"

"You won't be the first one who promised that," Ranma frowned back. "Although you're probably one of the few who has a good reason."

"RRRAAAAAAHHHH!" the enraged bluenette bellowed as she charged at Ranma once again. Instead of grappling, she began using punches and blows meant to really hurt. Ranma had to act fast and think quickly to dodge them, but Ryomou was apparently a grappling fighter first and a power fighter second so the blows weren't able to connect as easily as her usual attacks would. Still, the glancing blows stung so Ryomou definitely had power behind her punches.

Twisting around one such blow, Ranma's eyes landed on where he had placed Hakufu. Her eyes were blinking slowly and it seemed that she was beginning to get some semblance of consciousness back. Either that or the restricted blood flow had caused her to fall asleep and she was on the verge of sleepwalking or something. Either way, she was recovering from what Ryomou had done to her and that meant that it was probably high time to get her out.

"I've had enough of this," Ranma frowned. Twisting around another of Ryomou's punches, he gripped her fists and raised it up, leaving her torso unprotected. Rearing back his fist at a speed only an Amazon could probably match, he unleashed his next technique, "Katchu Tenshin Amaguriken!" To the untrained eye, Ranma's fist plowed into Ryomou's abdomen, but to those who were trained, it was fifty to one hundred high speed punches hitting her within seconds. Normally a tough girl like Ryomou would be capable of taking that many hits, but having every hit trained on one spot with no chance at retaliation or defence, it quickly took its toll on her.

"GAH!" Ryomou gasped, the wind knocked straight out of her as saliva and possibly a bit of blood splattered to the floor. Her teeth clenched as she tried to remain conscious despite the first buried in her gut. However, her battle of wills failed as she passed out and slumped over Ranma's fist. While Ranma was within his rights to leave her hurting more since Ryomou did hurt his cousin, he wasn't the vindictive type lest one of his rivals or enemies do something directly to him or tried to woo Akane away while he felt strongly for her. Placing the bluenette gently on the floor, he turned to check on Hakufu. Walking to her side, he held her face to see if she was conscious nor not.

"Nnnn…dinnertime…hungry…" the strawberry blonde mumbled.

"Definitely sleeping," Ranma sighed. "Oh well, no helping it," Slipping his arms under Hakufu's knees and her lower back, he picked her up in a bridal carry. Making sure she was secure, he carried her towards the stairs, listening to her sleep-driven mumbles about food and dinner the while way. Traversing the stairs with ease, he found Kokin, slightly bloody from his fight with Saji and the other student himself leaning against the stairwell, his legs completely useless.

"Hakufu!" Kokin gasped at the sight of his cousin. Standing up with a serious amount of effort, he stumbled over for a closer look. Of course, he was blushing from the sight of seeing her bra out in the open like it was. "Is she okay?"

"Some girl named Ryomou was putting a chokehold move on her and she pretty much passed out," Ranma answered. "I interrupted her and we fought. I kicked her ass."

"Wow, you beat Mou-chan then?" Saji chuckled. "She's not going to like that."

"Well, you should probably get her some help since I left her unconscious in the hallway," Ranma answered, walking with Hakufu to the descending stairs. "Your legs should be getting better soon enough. Once they do go check on your friend. Nothing serious should be wrong with her but I did use some heavy attacks on her."

"Will do," Saji nodded with a mock salute.

Taking Hakufu, Ranma descended the stairs with Kokin stumbling along behind them. That left the dirty blonde alone as his mind ran over the implications of what had happened that day. Granted, Ryomou wasn't the strongest of all the fighters, but she was pretty high in skill and only a few could really beat her. The pigtailed guy had just added his name to that relatively short list and would probably earn a place of honour on the bluenette's shit list too. Saji only knew that the mysterious new boy's name was Ranma and that he was definitely skilled. This may have some serious implications on the plans he had going on.

"Oh well," he sighed. "I'll deal with it all in time."

Now if only he could walk.

* * *

><p>The walk back to Kokin's house was slow since the boy had been given a pretty bad beating at the hands of Saji. Still, he was thankfully able to keep conscious and mentally together rather than being a stumbling, punch-drunk mess. He led them on what he claimed was a shortcut between his house and the school. Of course, the only obstacle was a metal mesh fence, but Ranma was easily capable of leaping over it while Kokin had to struggle over and drop on his butt with a loud thud. Still, they managed to get to the Shu house as the sun was vanishing over the horizon.<p>

"Been a while since I was here," Ranma commented as he appreciated the decoration around the house.

"It has been, hasn't it?" asked Kokin. "We were all little kids when we met here."

"Yeah," Ranma nodded. "Say, is that message Hakufu carved into one of the support pillars still here?"

"Sadly, yes," Kokin sighed. When they were little, he and Hakufu got into an argument about how he was the better boy to protect the empress while they were playing. Hakufu got mad, thinking that he was trying to tell her what to do when she was supposed to be the empress. In revenge, she carved the words 'stupid Kokin' into one of the support pillars on the porch surrounding the house. His aunt, Goei had punished her, but his father never saw fit to replace it since the damage was so small. He had to look at it every day it felt like.

Reaching the front door, the three teens entered as Kokin announced, "We're home!"

"Welcome back!" a mature female voice answered from within. The padding of footsteps announced their arrival before a woman in a black kimono and a red obi stepped into the entry hall. She had short brown/red hair and glasses. She was also a very attractive woman who had no doubt many men both her own age and younger would try to put the moves on if they felt like they had any sort of chance with her. She took in the sight of Kokin being bloody and Hakufu unconscious in Ranma's arms before looking to Ranma himself.

"Oh my," she blinked. "And just who is this studly young man you've brought home with you?"

"Eh, heh, heh, heh," Ranma chuckled weakly, being reminded strongly of his mother. "It's…been a while Aunt Goei."

"Hmm?" the mature woman blinked. She seemed to ponder for a moment before gasping, her eyes sparkling with joy. "Oh Ranma! Is that really you?" she dashed up to the pigtailed martial artists, incidentally seemingly forgetting that her daughter was in his arms in favour of examining her other nephew. "Oh it's been so long! Look at you! You've become so handsome and manly! Oh I bet the girls are just clamouring over each other for your attention!"

"Uhhh…" Ranma shuddered. It wasn't so much that girls fought for his attention, it was more like they fought each other with the expectation that he'd belong to the last one standing.

"Ah...Aunt Goei?" Kokin asked from where he was standing. "My wounds aren't getting any better and Hakufu probably needs to get some rest in her room, so…"

"Oh, of course," Goei nodded, stepping back. "Ranma, why don't you follow me and I'll show you where Hakufu's room is. Kokin, you know where the first aid kit is. Once Ranma has Hakufu safely in bed I'll come and help you out."

"Right, Aunt Goei. Thanks," Kokin nodded before he began limping into the house.

"Follow me Ranma," Goei motioned before walking in a different direction than her nephew. The pigtailed martial artist nodded and followed his aunt.

The house seemed to have remained unchanged since he and his father had passed through it. All of the traditional artwork seemed to be the same and the place was as clean and sophisticated as ever. The house was probably one of the few places Ranma had any good memories of his childhood aside from all the painful training his father put him through. The only other fun memories he had were about his time with Ukyo as kids, but she was poisoning those as she tried to use them as emotional blackmail so he would marry her. He just hoped that the fun memories he had of Hakufu and Kokin wouldn't go the same way.

"Here we are," Goei smiled, approaching a door which looked out at the backyard. Taking hold of the sliding door, she opened it to reveal a guest room with a futon styled after a girl's taste. "Just place her on the futon please."

"Sure thing," Ranma nodded. Walking into the room, he gently placed the strawberry blonde on the soft futon before slowly letting go so not to wake her up. Making sure she was comfortable, Ranma stepped back and out of the room, meeting his Aunt Goei again.

"That girl," the mature woman sighed. "Making us all worry about her and then getting her clothes ruined all over again. She'd better have a good explanation about this. I told her that fighting just for the fun of it would be punished." Ranma blinked at his aunt and saw she was dead serious. His mother on the other hand seemed to be perfectly fine with all of the fights which seemed to find their way to him. To her, they seemed to be just ways to show off how manly he was…or maybe she just didn't know how often he was attacked by the fiancées and rivals. It was hard to tell with her.

"Ah well, I'll do that later," Goei shrugged, closing the door to Hakufu's room. "Let's go to the living room and go see if Kokin needs help with his bandages. Then we can talk and get caught up!"

"Right…" Ranma sweatdropped. It seemed that his aunt was just as excitable as his mother. Shrugging it off, he followed the older woman through the house before entering the living room again where Kokin was sitting down with a first aid kit and applying some disinfectant to his wounds.

"Here, let me help you with that," Goei spoke softly as she approached her nephew. Taking the disinfectant, she began applying it to some of Kokin's head wounds, making the boy wince from some of the stinging sensations. Ranma just took a seat nearby and watched them, not wanting to stick his foot in his mouth or say something he shouldn't.

"So Ranma, just why did you come all this way?" asked Goei curiously. "Last I heard from No-chan you were settling down in Nerima somewhere."

"Ah, Hakufu told me about how her first day of school went yesterday and some friends of mine heard the rumours about the war that Nanyo and the other schools were up to here," Ranma answered. "I was worried and decided to come here to see if she was okay. Turns out my timing couldn't have been better."

"I'll say," Kokin winced. "He showed up just when a bunch of fighters were about to try and take me down before he managed to get past Saji and then take on Ryomou to make sure Hakufu was okay. I didn't see the fight but I did hear her scream," he looked to his relative with curiosity. "Just what did you do to her?"

"I'd…rather not say," Ranma answered quietly. No doubt if word got out about what he did to Ryomou to make her scream like that, she'd be pissed at him for the rest of eternity.

"Oh, maybe you had your wicked way with her and she was screaming in unwanted ecstasy?" Goei asked with a teasing smile.

"NO WAY!" Ranma shouted loudly, his face turning red in an instant. "We fought! That's it! That was the only thing we did!"

Goei just seemed to giggle at the loud reply while Kokin sighed in long-suffering understanding. Muttering to himself about perverted aunts under his breath, Ranma crossed his arms and decided to continue his story, "Anyway, I got here yesterday but the map I had didn't tell me which of the schools were which. I dropped by Youshu, Seito, and Kyosho before I finally got directions to Nanyo where I found Kokin about to get mobbed by those other guys."

"Wait, you were at Youshu, Seito and Kyosho? For real?" asked Kokin. "Did anything happen? I mean, they don't take the appearance of unfamiliar fighters very well unless their joining their side. None of the schools do really."

"Well, Hanno at Youshu tried to pick a fight with me, but after I threatened to kick his ass Taishiji showed up," Ranma shrugged.

"Wait? Taishiji? The top fighter of Youshu? One of the top five in Kanto?" Kokin cried. "What did you do?"

"Well, he apologized for my treatment of an enemy since I'm not with any of the schools and then we fought," Ranma grinned. "I've gotta admit, it was a pretty fun fight. Still, I managed to win in the end. No hard feelings were made about it so that made it better."

Kokin was gaping, his eyes wide with shock, "You…you…you actually fought Taishiji…and won?"

"Yeah, but it was just a friendly fight," Ranma shrugged. "That was nothing compared to fighting Kanu over at Seito," a grin broke out on his face. "Now that was an awesome fight. She's probably one of the toughest people I've fought in a long time. It ended in a draw since we both hit each other so hard we had to stop. Well, it was agreed to end on the next blow and we hit each other at the same time but the strikes hit so hard we would have had to stop anyway."

"Ka…Ka…Kanu?" Kokin gaped, his pupils growing small in shock.

"Oh, you sound like you had fun with this Kanu girl," Goei smiled slyly. "Are you going to try and see more of her?"

"Well…I definitely wouldn't mind seeing her again," Ranma chuckled weakly. "She's really powerful and definitely very controlled in her actions and reactions. I guess she's…really good-looking too. Heh heh heh."

"Oh, a young man knows what he wants in a woman," Goei giggled. "Ranma, in place of your mother I'll give you my full support! Go get that Kanu girl!"

"But…but…it's KANU UNCHOU!" Kokin cried. "She's another one of the top fighters in the region! How'd you manage to fight her and Taishiji both in the same day and still be alive? I thought you only said that part to scare Saji!"

"No, I was serious," Ranma nodded. "Besides, like I said, Taishiji and I weren't going all out and Kanu figured out I wasn't a threat to Seito while we were fighting. The Sousou guy at Kyosho was the one who gave me the directions to Nanyo."

"SOUSOU?" Kokin gaped. "Please don't tell me you picked a fight with him!"

"Nah, why would I?" Ranma shrugged. He then seemed to recall what he felt coming off Sousou, "Would be a pretty cool fight though. He's crazy strong."

"Ah, the desires of men among men can't be denied or ignored," Goei sighed dramatically. "So Ranma, did you meet any other of the local women who tickled your fancy?"

"Ummm…well, I did meet one girl but I don't know if hanging out with her would be a good idea until I figure out what she wants," Ranma shrugged.

"Oh?" Goei grinned, ignoring Kokin for the moment as she leaned in closer to Ranma. "A dangerous girl is she? Just tell us who is she?"

"Said her name was Ryofu Hosen from Rakuyo," Ranma replied.

"WHAT?" Kokin cried out, flinching as he aggravated the wounds on his head. "Ranma, did you meet every top fighter from the district or pick fights from all of them or something? Just how many people did you meet?"

"That was about it," Ranma shrugged, seemingly uncaring of how dangerous all of the people he had met could be if they were provoked. It was like Ranma acted like he was attacked by people who could kill him all the time to the understandably shocked young man.

"Well, it seems Ranma has plenty of choice when it comes to the local girls," Goei giggled. "Make sure to choose wisely!"

"Uh…sure," the pigtailed martial artist blinked.

* * *

><p><strong>Rakuyo<strong>

Totaku was tending to the flowers in the school greenhouse as per his usual habits. The care and attention he put into them hid his normally cruel nature and if it weren't for the bandages which covered his skin, one wouldn't have been able to guess just how malicious he could be when he felt like it. Behind him, Ryofu was sitting in seiza, having given her report about Ranma Saotome to her leader and waiting to see if he had any further orders for him

"So he spotted you did he?" Totaku asked, picking an orchid. "My, that's not like you at all Ryofu."

"His skill certainly was not made up," Ryofu frowned, trying her best to ignore the slight to her skills. "The rumours about that and who he fought are definitely true."

"It is indeed," Totaku nodded, sniffing the flower. "He'd certainly make an asset towards our own forces, would he not?"

"Yes sir," Ryofu nodded. "Do wish for me to try to recruit him now? He already knows me and that might make it easier."

"It could," Totaku nodded, plucking the petals of the flower. "It can wait though. I'm expecting a visitor soon. Tomorrow at the latest. He may have some more information on this fellow and the Sho Hao which I've heard has taken up residence in Nanyo."

"Yes sir," Ryofu nodded.

* * *

><p><strong>Shu House<strong>

Inside her room, Hakufu groaned as she returned to the waking world. The last thing she remembered was that pink eye girl choking her between her thighs before she passed out. She wasn't too sure what happened next, but she was sure that she had some kind of dream about her cousin Ranma coming to save her. Of course, she knew that probably didn't happen since she hadn't seen Ranma in years and had only just talked to him yesterday. There was no chance he could have shown up a whole day later. Still, despite how nice the dream was, it still didn't take away from the fact that she had been defeated in battle.

"It…really is a shameful feeling," she pouted to herself, rubbing her neck where the pink eye girl had been strangling her.

Sitting up in her bed, Hakufu managed to drag herself out before reaching for her door. Opening it, she found the sun had gone down to reveal the night sky. The sight of it just made her begin to pout. Now she had probably missed dinner too. Could her day have gotten any worse?

"AUNT GOEI PUT YOUR CLOTHES BACK ON!"

Hakufu blinked in confusion. That didn't sound like Kokin at all. Curious, she began to head to the main living area to see just what was going on. Finding the entrance to the room, she slid it open to find her mother sitting down, happily drunk with a large sake bottle sitting on the table. Of course, she was attempting to strip just like she did when they had all arrived at the Shu house yesterday. Kokin was passed out on the floor, drunk. However, what was interfering with Goei's attempts of relieving herself of her clothes was a boy dressed in Chinese clothes with his black hair done up in a pigtail.

"Oh come on Ranma!" Goei pouted. "We're all family here! It's nothing you probably haven't seen before!"

"That doesn't mean I want to see my relatives like that!" the pigtailed boy practically pleaded, struggling to keep Goei's obi wrapped around her.

Hakufu blinked at the scene, once again confused about what was going on. However, that had quickly taken a back seat to the revelation of the new boy's name who was attempting to keep her mother's modesty intact. Could it really be…, "Ran-chan?"

"Huh?" Ranma blinked, turning to see who was using his nickname. Standing in the doorway to the room was none other than his bubbly blonde cousin who was looking at the whole situation with confusion in her eyes. Ranma immediately realized just what his current position looked like, holding his Aunt Goei's clothes while they were all wrinkled and messed up, no doubt looking like he was trying to strip her or something. Immediately releasing his aunt, he waved his hands in front of himself, trying to shield what was no doubt an incoming attack. "This isn't what it looks like!"

The words didn't seem to reach Hakufu's mind as her eyes widened in sheer surprise, "Ran-chan!" she squealed in joy. Lunging forward, she collided with her cousin in a super-glomp, knocking him to the floor as she hugged him as tightly as she could. "Oh wow Ran-chan! I didn't know you were coming! This is so cool!" She continued to hug him happily while kicking her feet in the air like a little kid would.

"Um…" Ranma blinked. He had really been expecting to be hit for the perverted-looking position with his own aunt, but Hakufu didn't seem to be concerned about that. Well, Ranma wasn't going to bring it to her attention so he decided to move on with the conversation. "Yeah, it's good to see you too Hakufu. I just wish it wasn't when I had to see you getting choked by the blue-haired girl."

"-sigh- yeah, I got beaten badly," Hakufu sighed, shifting to a depressed state once again. "Such a shameful feeling."

"Hey, you managed to get beaten today," Ranma sighed, rubbing the top of Hakufu's head with his hand. "But you managed to survive so that means you can get stronger now. Besides, I came to make sure you were okay and to see if I couldn't put some martial arts skills into that head of yours."

"Really?" Hakufu gasped, looking up at Ranma with sparkles in her eyes. "You'll really help me get stronger? Oh Ran-chan you're the best!"

"Well, there wasn't any doubt about that," Ranma grinned smugly.

Watching her child and second nephew was Goei, smiling at the sweet scene. Distracted from relieving herself from her clothes she could only watch as her daughter was pulled out of her depression from one of the two boys who probably knew her best. It seemed Ranma's coming was going to be most fortuitous.

* * *

><p><strong>Hospital<strong>

Saji stretched as he sat in the waiting room of the local hospital which almost all of the fighters used when they were injured. It was one of the places that they considered to be neutral so no fighting went on while they were there. Of course, it didn't stop some of the people from placing guards outside the rooms if they felt that the person being treated was someone of high ranking and thus an easy target. Saji had brought in Ryomou after his legs returned to their proper function. Thankfully she was right where the pigtailed guy had said she'd be, unconscious in the middle of the hallway. Ranma definitely worked her over, but it didn't seem too serious. Still, Saji had brought her for medical treatment just in case.

"Maybe there are some cute nurses nearby," he pondered, but the thought was shot down when he spotted his blue-haired friend approaching from the inner hallways of the medical centre. She looked well enough and wasn't sporting any bandages beyond the eye patch she always wore. Saji immediately stood up and began waving at her. "Well hey there Mou-chan, how are you feeling?"

"Lousy," the girl replied with a frown.

"Yeah, the doc told me you had some deep bruising, some of it internal," Saji nodded. "He also said that you had some rectal trauma. He asked me if you had been raped or something."

"What?" Ryomou cried, her face turning red. Stepping up to her friend, she grabbed him by the lapels of his shirt. "Saji, if you want to stay alive then you had better not say that to anyone else!"

"Relax, I won't say a word," Saji smiled, soothing Ryomou's temper as he always could and prying her hands off of him. "Of course, the way you screamed sure let everyone who was nearby know that something sure happened to you. Just what did that guy do to you?" Saji could guess part of what happened, but he liked to tease the normally serious girl when he could and this was too much of an opportunity to pass up.

"None of your business," Ryomou frowned, her face a lovely shade of red. "Just who the hell was he?"

"Not too sure, but he seems connected to the Sho Hao in some way. I think his name is Ranma," Saji shrugged. "Managed to catch me by surprise and get me with a pressure point that made my legs useless for about an hour or so."

"When he attacked me, he said that she was his cousin," the eye patch girl commented. "I hate to admit it, but he's a hell of a good fighter. It wouldn't surprise me too much if it turned out that he was the real Sho Hao and that bubblehead was just a distraction for him to see how our fighters stacked up."

"Hmm, not a bad theory," Saji nodded, tapping his chin in thought. "It might explain why the new girl is so strong even though she doesn't have much skill at all. So just what do we do about him then?"

"We find out just who he is and why he's here," Ryomou shrugged. "A fighter like him is definitely going to make an impact and if we're lucky, he'll be on our side."

"Oh? Ready to accept him so easily?" Saji asked with a grin. "Are you hoping he's the Sho Hao so you can serve him? What kind of 'service' did you have in mind Mou-chan? Huh? Huh?"

"Shut. Up," the grappling specialist growled before she walked past her friend and headed for the exit. While she was exiting, her lone uncovered eye narrowed in agitation and frustration, '_Ranma or whatever your name is…I will pay you back for that humiliation._'

* * *

><p><strong>Shu House<strong>

"ACHOO!" Ranma sneezed violently, almost coating the dinner table with his sneeze. Thankfully he managed to avoid that. His Aunt Goei had really pulled out all of the stops to make a dinner to celebrate Ranma's arrival despite being for all appearances a little tipsy from her sudden binge drinking. Still, it looked and tasted great so none of the collected teenagers were going to turn it down, least of all Ranma himself. Probably the only one who wasn't in high spirits was Kokin who was suffering from a slight hangover thanks to the booze his aunt practically forced onto him.

"Are you catching a cold Ran-chan?" Hakufu asked with concern.

"Nah. Someone must be talking about me," Ranma replied, sniffling. "It's probably Ryomou stating how she'll try to kill me the next time she sees me or something."

"And that doesn't concern you?" Kokin asked with a sweatdrop.

"Not really," Ranma shrugged. "It's nothing I haven't dealt with before."

"Oh my, you've must have led quite the life," Goei commented as if she were talking about the weather. "Care to tell us about some of your adventures since we last saw you?"

"Ummm," Ranma blinked. He wasn't too sure if that was a good idea. People tended to freak out when he told them how his training trip went and how life in Nerima was for him. What they freaked out about tended to vary though.

"Please Ran-chan?" Hakufu begged cutely, leaning across the table slightly

"Uhhh….okay," the pigtailed martial artist sighed, not having the heart to turn down his cousin. "It's not going to be a pretty story though."

"How bad could it be?" asked Kokin, slightly curious.

Elsewhere…

"So…we haven't heard anything about him?"

The girls of Seito Private School were at their temple home, doing their usual duties of keeping Ryuubi safe at all times. It was a nice private place and in was in fact very peaceful and not many who were outside of the grand battle of the seven schools would have guessed some of the most powerful fighters of Seito if not out of all the fighters used the place as their home and base when not at their school.

At the moment, the only ones there were Kanu Unchou, the short-haired Chouhi whom Ranma had soundly defeated the previous day, Ryuubi Gentoku, the glasses-sporting girl who had politely asked Ranma what he was doing at their school, and finally the last of Ryuubi's constant bodyguards, Chou'un Shiryuu.

Chou'un was definitely what one would call a beauty. She had a shapely figure which her variant of the Seito uniform which consisted of a brown vest, black skirt, and white top did not cover the fact that she had curves in all the right places and revealed that she was indeed gifted in the bust area. Her skin seemed soft and looked very smooth, giving her an appearance which would be akin to a porcelain doll. She had long flowing silver hair which cascaded down her back while some of it framed her face. An odd quirk about her though was the fact that she kept her eyes closed all the time. She was not blind, but she preferred to keep her eyes closed and use her other senses simply because her eyes were not what one would call normal which unnerved some people. At her side was a very real katana, indicating just what kind of combat method she preferred to use.

At this moment in time, the girls were enjoying dinner as they conversed over the subject concerning the newest face to the Kanto region, namely one Ranma Saotome. In the day since Kanu and Ranma battled one another, the fighters had been talking, wondering just who the stranger was and what he wanted. Ryuubi had asked just who the boy was who had fought her bodyguard to a draw. Since Ryuubi was not quite being the type to be harsh about anything, preferring reading books to battle, Kanu, Chouhi, and Chou'un had taken up the task of finding out just who the mysterious pigtailed boy was for the gentle girl instead.

"Well, he was seen leaving Kyosho Academy this morning," Kanu replied, sipping tea as she answered her leader's inquiry. "One would assume he had been on the search for Nanyo and ended up there."

"Then why'd he stay the night?" asked Chouhi suspiciously.

"He didn't," Kanu replied. "From what I was told, he slept on the beach out behind the school before cutting through Kyosho itself to continue on his way."

For her own part, Kanu was quite interested in seeing Ranma again. While having him as a part of Seito would be good for everyone in their war efforts, Kanu couldn't help but think about how pleasant it would be for her personally. While she could always appreciate a fine-looking man, Kanu had long since accepted that she was more interested in women, namely Ryuubi, but Ranma had a sort of roguish charm about him that had captured her interest despite all odds. He didn't fear her nor did he seem to hold any kind of negative emotion towards her like how almost everyone she knew did. In fact, it seemed just the opposite. He was open and friendly towards her with a kind of warm feeling that seemed to radiate from him, especially when it became clear that he was having fun with their fight. The naginata-user couldn't help but feel at least a little flustered by that warm sensation he exuded. The attraction had been instant and Kanu found that she was enjoying the sensation. It was what made her decide to pursue Ranma while she could, for both her school and for herself.

"Why are you all so interested in this guy anyway?" asked Chouhi with a huff. "He's not part of our school and he's not with our enemies so why bother?"

"It's because he's not with any of the schools that he is getting such attention, Chouhi," Chou'un answered. "A fighter of his calibre will be desired by many of the schools as one of their own. To be able to fight Kanu to a standstill speaks volumes of his ability. The balance of power would finally dip away from Rakuyo if we had him."

Chouhi made it no secret that she disliked Ranma since he left Seito. She considered him a jerk of high calibre and likewise a threat to Seito itself that needed to be taken care of. She didn't once consider just how much potential power he could bring to Seito if he was persuaded to join. She was still too busy being in a funk over how she was beaten by him in less time than his bout with Kanu took. She hadn't even been able to scratch him!

Chou'un on the other hand easily recognized the potential Ranma represented, being one of the people who had watched his bout with Kanu. The young man could read Kanu's moves to an extent and managed some impressive defence or counters to them. Even if he were caught by surprise such as when Kanu allowed her weapon to be kicked from her hands so she could attack properly, he could still react quickly enough to mount a counter. The silver-haired swordswoman had not been understating things when she said he had the potential to tip the balance away from Rakuyo. He was powerful and anyone who had watched him fight would say so as well. Of course, it wasn't solely for her school that Chou'un wanted to recruit him. Seeing his grace and fluid movements along with his powerful strikes and counters was certainly a delicious sight. Being able to see the handsome young man who could do those moves everyday certainly made Chou'un eager to see Ranma in a Seito uniform one day. Of course, she was already planning ways to 'persuade' him.

"I thought he was nice," Ryuubi frowned slightly at her bodyguard and friend's angry statement about the pigtailed boy she had seen looking at her school in confusion. He didn't seem to hold any kind of ill intent towards her at all when she met him.

"Well, you never know who might be an enemy is disguise," Chouhi grumbled, biting into one of her many snacks which she had brought to the dinner table to soothe her temper.

"You're just bitter because he managed to beat you in a fight with what seemed to be little effort," Kanu commented.

"He just got me by surprise!" Chouhi snapped defensively.

"Not from what I saw," Chou'un added.

"Like you saw anything since you have your eyes closed all the time!" Chouhi snapped.

"I saw enough," the silver-haired swordswoman replied, ignoring the barb. "In any case I think that it is safe to say that recruiting him should be a priority. With his skill we should be able to be capable of protecting Ryuubi at all times and be able to take a more offensive role in things to come. I doubt Totaku will be satisfied with just Youshu and Yoshuu under his command for very long. It's very possible that the other schools already know of him as well and will be making moves to get him on their side."

"Then…what should we do to make him choose us?" asked Ryuubi.

"Well, he is a man and despite how some of the boys in school are afraid of us, we are a group of attractive young women," Chou'un smiled slightly. "I think we can possibly do something to convince him. I can see to the issue personally if that would make you feel better Ryuubi."

Kanu's eyes narrowed slightly at her silver-haired compatriot. Anyone could tell from that tone of voice and the look on her face that she was noticeably interested in the mysterious pigtailed fighter as well. A flare of jealousy appeared in the naginata user's chest as she thought of Chou'un getting close with Ranma while she was standing guard over Ryuubi, "You don't have to trouble yourself Chou'un. Ranma already is familiar with me. I would have a better chance of persuading him."

Hearing the slight increase of emotion in Kanu's voice, Chou'un realised that perhaps she had some competition after all, "Oh, it's no trouble Kanu. I am not afraid of backing down from a challenge. Besides, I might just end up enjoying this one."

"But shouldn't we be preparing for the Big Fighters Tournament?" asked Kanu in response. "We still haven't selected anyone to compete and we should all be preparing ourselves even though we may not be the ones to compete."

"Then it is all the more imperative we get Ranma to join us," Chou'un argued. "With him we can have three people guarding Ryuubi and at least one powerful fighter representing Seito in the tournament."

"As much as I don't want to say it, that's a good point," Chouhi huffed. "If you want this guy to join up so bad then we can get him to fight in the tournament while the rest of us make sure no one tries anything funny with Ryuubi," mentioning her leader, she looked over to the spectacles-sporting girl who seemed to be entranced by how Chou'un and Kanu were attempting to one up one another in their arguments. "What do you think?"

"Uh?" Ryuubi blinked. Seeing Kanu and Chou'un argue was beginning to remind her of some romance novels she had read once. Chouhi's question had snapped her out of her introspection. "Um…well, I guess it would be good for us if Ranma did join Seito. Now we just have to find him so we can try to persuade him. Since Kanu and Chou'un have ideas on how to do that, they can be the ones to talk to him when they find him."

"Very well," Chou'un nodded.

"We'll do it right away," Kanu nodded.

Both girls then glanced at each other. Well, Chou'un looked in Kanu's direction even though she had her eyes closed. No words shared between the two, especially since Ryuubi would get distressed if the pair began fighting, but the message was easily enough passed between the two.

'_Game on._'

'_May the best woman win._'

* * *

><p><strong>Shu House<strong>

"…and then I was unconscious for a while and when I woke up everyone was mad at me for some reason, and that's about it I think," Ranma finished.

Ranma had spent about an hour explaining his life to his relatives from when they last saw him to his year in Nerima and all the hijinks which went on in there. The rivals, the fiancées, and even his curse which he had to demonstrate twice since Kokin had fainted when he saw it happen. Hakufu had thought it was pretty cool while Goei didn't seem to care either way. To them, Ranma was still family no matter what. However, hearing about all of the people who were after his heart, head, or a random choice of either option caused all three of them to gape widely. When he explained all of the weird stuff that went on, Ranma was pretty sure birds could have nested in their mouths.

"Are you…are you serious?" Kokin blinked incredulously. "I mean, people actually treat you that way back in Nerima?"

"Yes," Ranma nodded grimly.

"Mom…would Aunt Nodoka really make Ran-chan commit seppuku like that?" Hakufu asked her mother worriedly.

"Only if Ranma had turned into some kind of perverted thief like that shrivelled old man his father calls a master," Goei frowned. "I think No-chan would only make that contract in the first place to make sure Genma behaved himself on the trip while she couldn't be there curb his stupidity. It didn't seem to work though."

"And engaging you to all those girls just so he could get a little bit of money or food?" Kokin asked with his mouth still agape. "That's just worse than stupid, that's plain dishonourable! Did he really think that they wouldn't be able to find you or something?"

"Pop's motto is 'out of sight, out of mind'. He probably believes that if he stops thinking about it, maybe it'll never come up and he won't have to deal with it," Ranma sighed. "When it eventually comes back, he just lays the blame on me, saying how I shouldn't collect fiancées like that. Everyone else seems happy to blame me for the girls too."

"But they're the ones who just won't give up!" Hakufu cried. "You don't string anyone along!"

"That doesn't matter to them," Goei sighed. "They're incredibly selfish people, being driven by either the laws of their homes, delusions, or because their parents prefer to shove off their problems onto the next generation. They all have dreams and want to make Ranma part of them, even though Ranma himself doesn't want to, they just ignore that and continue dreaming about the life they think they'll live once he 'realizes' how much he loves them and marries them."

"Like that's going to happen," Ranma muttered, rolling his eyes.

"And despite everything Uncle Genma has done, breaking his word Kami knows how many times, this Tendo guy seems happy to just blame you instead of seeing how the pact was broken so many times?" asked Kokin. "No offense to you Ranma, but if someone broke a promise made to me like that, I'd have thrown them out onto the street!"

"I don't blame you," Ranma nodded. "But Mr. Tendo seems to think Pop can do no wrong although given the chance he'd break the pledge again and again for just about anything that's food or is worth money. When a girl comes saying I'm engaged to them through Pop, Mr. Tendo blames me. Akane throws a fit, Mr. Tendo blames me and both of them try to make me marry her immediately. Mr. Tendo really wants to join the schools and seems willing to do just about anything to make it happen."

"Like blackmailing you with the cure to your curse just to make you marry that mean girl," Hakufu huffed.

"It sounds to me that Soun is banking on you to take the schools into the next generation and make them famous," Goei spoke, piling rice onto her plate. "However, since he stopped training Akane after the death of his wife, it seems he's more offering her as a bribe along with the dojo to make Genma accept the pledge. Knowing that lazy fool, a place where he can lounge about all day, not lift a finger to help, and be able to keep away from Nodoka's standards especially since your trip to Jusenkyo is probably the most tempting price for you he's gotten yet. If they both made the pledge in the first place, it's pretty clear to me neither of them really took it seriously."

"Then there's that Ukyo girl who seems to feel she has the most right to you since her dowry was taken," Kokin added. "When you got hit by that moxibustion point she seemed ready to fit you into the life she had all planned out for both you and her."

"Yeah," Ranma muttered. He remembered that time. Ukyo didn't seem to have any sympathy at all for the fact that all of his strength was gone. Instead, she seemed happier at the fact that he couldn't take over the Tendo Dojo and would be easier to claim for her own plans of marriage than the ones with Akane. That was a major turning point in seeing her in any romantic light even though she did travel with him to try and get it fixed. She didn't do much to help besides make food so Ranma suspected she was simply trying to score points with him.

"Well what about that Shampoo girl?" asked Hakufu. "She doesn't even consider your feelings! She just grabs you and tries to feed you all sorts of poisons and stuff or try to bribe you with things that can stop your curse! I don't care if she's an Amazon or not! You can't treat people like that, especially my cousin!"

"She comes from a society where women are the ones in charge and men are second-class," Goei commented. "Men who are strong seem to have more respect than the average man who is born there, but not as much as a woman. Apparently this girl considers Ranma her property and her laws give her permission to take him if she can while getting rid of anyone who is in her way. I think the only reasons she hasn't gone postal on everyone is because she's never killed before and it would get Ranma mad at her and since that incident with that Saffron person, she's being very wary of that."

"I think Cologne's clued in on that too," Ranma nodded. "I've taken down both the Musk Prince and the Pheonix king, enemies to the Amazons. Getting me into the tribe has probably become a much bigger task than before, but they don't want to cheese me off since they know what I'm capable of too."

"Breaking a mountain? Yeah, I'd be stepping on eggshells around you too," Kokin nodded.

"My cousin's so cool," Hakufu grinned.

"The worst in my opinion is that Akane girl though," the blue-haired boy cringed. "I mean, you go through all this crap just to help her out and half the time she doesn't even appreciate it. I mean, you two seem to fight all the time and her temper is completely out of control. Martial arts are supposed to be about self control and growth but all she seems to use it for is making a spectacle of herself when she beat up all those guys who tried to fight her. I guess you sort of invite trouble by calling her names but I hardly think a mallet to the head with enough force to smash you through floorboards in appropriate."

"I agree," Goei nodded. "At the very least she could give you a chance but she absolutely refuses to give you that much since whenever a chance does come up, her temper or some meddling influence seems to ruin the moment. From what you've told me she expects you to be the one to change while she doesn't have to lift a finger. Marriage is about working together and compromising, not bickering almost every time you see each other and meddling with each others' affairs. It seems Akane often gets in the way of your fights claiming she's a martial artist yet doesn't want you to get in the middle of hers. She acts like she doesn't care but when it seems like another girl wants to get closer to you, she makes a big scene of pulling you away and then dropping you when someone calls her out on it. That girl just can't seem to make up her mind."

"Why do Uncle Genma and his friend want you to marry her so badly anyway?" asked Hakufu. "I mean, she can't clean, can't sew, can't cook or anything!"

"Neither can you," Goei snickered.

"Well I'm not interested in any of those things!" Hakufu snapped back. "Even if I was I would make sure I was really good at it before I tried showing it to someone!"

"Like your flower arranging and tea ceremony?" asked the shifty elder woman with a grin.

"Quiet!" Hakufu cried back.

As the two females argued, Kokin turned to his relative to continue his conversation, "Hakufu did make a good question though Ranma. Just why do Uncle Genma and his friend want you to marry that girl of all people? I mean, he has two other daughters doesn't he?"

"Well, I'm not too sure," Ranma shrugged. "I guess the eldest sister sees me like a little brother and she's more like the mother figure I never had until I found Mom again. If we got married then it wouldn't last very long and we'd probably try for an annulment or something, meaning the schools wouldn't be joined. The middle sister is a money-grubbing pain in the neck who'd probably sell the dojo before trying to open it to students again. They probably think Akane and I are the best choices since we're both marital artists."

"You need more than one common interest to make a marriage work though," Kokin sighed.

"I've been learning that pretty quickly," Ranma nodded, turning to his meal.

As everyone ate, Ranma had to admit that he was a little worried that his relatives wouldn't believe him since no one outside of Nerima had to deal with the things he had dealt with in the past. However, Goei had been dealing with some pretty fantastic things herself unknowingly to him while Kokin was fully aware of the fate of the fighters such as himself and Hakufu. The booby bombs of Nanyo was just naïve enough to believe just about anything anyone told her, especially if it involved food.

Eating the last of her rice, Goei eyed her nephew with concern. He had been dealt a bad hand in life and it wasn't getting any easier with his father selling him off at every opportunity. The things that made life worth living to a young man, girls, fun, friends, excitement, etc, all of it had been denied to him in favour of being turned into the ultimate bargaining chip to his lazy and greedy father for the chance to be able to live on easy street for the rest of his life. Well, as his aunt she just wouldn't let that keep happening.

"So Ranma, since the girls back home can't seem to hold your interest, how about the girls out here in Kanto?" she asked with a grin. "Do you think any of them might be on your list for a date?"

"MPH! –cough- what?" Ranma choked, having a mouthful of rice at the time of the question.

"Why, surely you have to have gained interest in at least one girl you've met since coming here," Goei smiled. "Was it that Kanu girl you spoke so fondly about? Maybe it was that dangerous Ryofu girl you want to walk on the wild side with or do you like dominating your women like you did that Ryomou?"

"Aunt Goei! Please!" Ranma groaned. "I have enough girl problems!"

"Which is why it's the perfect time to meet some new girls!" Goei insisted. "None of your usual problems are here now so it's a great time to try and meet someone new to have a fling or two with. Maybe you'll even fall in love and find true happiness despite the demands of family members! Oh, it's like a romance novel!" giggling, she gave up into thoughts of what men and women in such novels do when passion ignites into carnal desire.

"And there she goes," Kokin sighed.

"I don't need this," Ranma groaned, ignoring the part of him that vehemently agreed with his aunt despite knowing the numerous problems following her suggestions would no doubt bring.

It was a new day in the Kanto region and the people were going about their business once again. Men and women of all ages went about their daily business as they did what they needed to do that day. In most cases, they went to work, school, or whatever it was they did with their days. For the fighters, it was to go to school, learn, fight if they needed to, and wait for any and all orders from their leader which may come their way. The streets had their usual hustle and bustle, filled with people who were in on the whole war of the seven schools or were simply doing their best to pretend it wasn't happening so that they wouldn't have to get involved.

The Shu household was no different as the residents were already getting through the day. Kokin was delegated to simple tasks such as sweeping and similar jobs since he was still recovering from the beating that Saji had given him, sporting a bandage around his head with more on his cheeks and chin to show for it. Goei on the other hand was hanging laundry to dry, wearing an apron and kerchief over her kimono and hair to keep it safe from getting dirty. As for Hakufu and Ranma…

"Hey Hakufu! Wake up! We're going to go training!" Ranma called, knocking on his cousin's door sharply. Having enjoyed sleeping in for a change rather than being tossed out into the koi pond, Ranma felt that Hakufu had been sleeping long enough and needed to get up as well.

"Good luck waking that girl up," Goei sighed as she stretched a pair of panties so to get the extra water out of them. "She sleeps like the dead until she feels like waking up."

"Is that so?" asked Ranma, looking to his aunt. "Well I've got a perfect solution to that." Sliding open the door to the room, Ranma stepped inside. Kokin, mildly concerned with what might occur, stepped closer to the door before his pigtailed relative came back out holding…HAKUFU'S HEAD!

"WAAAGH!" the blue-haired boy screamed, recoiling backwards. "Ranma! How could you? She was your cousin!"

"Huh? What are you freaking out about now?" Ranma sighed, holding up the decapitated head to reveal not Hakufu's bloody and dead face, but a doggy face on a ball with its tongue sticking out mockingly with a wig styled after Hakufu's hair on it. In his other hand was a note scrawled with the missing girl's handwriting. "Hakufu apparently took off to deal with her heartbreak of losing or something."

"Oh?" asked Goei, looking at the two boys. Sighing, she shook her head. "That girl, making us all worry about her yet again. Oh well, I'm sure she'll come back when she's good and ready."

"Aunt Goei, this is serious!" Kokin cried. "Hakufu could be at risk or something out there! Who knows if some other kind of fighter finds her and decides to take her on!"

"Sounds like she'd probably have fun," Ranma shrugged. "Busting some heads might be what she needs to get some of her confidence back if you ask me. She should probably make sure those guys deserve it before she tries though."

"Ranma!" Kokin cried, rounding on him. Weren't either of his relatives the least bit worried about his cousin?

"Okay, okay," Ranma sighed, trying to placate his cousin's cousin. "If you're really that worried about her then we can go look for her and make sure she's okay. Once we know she's okay then can we can think of what to do next. Maybe then we can start on her training so she doesn't lose so badly again."

"Right, I'll take the left after we leave the house, you can take the right!" Kokin nodded before dashing off towards the entrance of the estate. Ranma just watched him leave before heaving a sigh. Honestly, Hakufu may have not had much in terms of actual skill, but she did have power and some experience on her side in case she got into trouble with some common thugs or something.

"She'd better appreciate this," Ranma sighed as he strolled after his relative at a less panicked pace.

Goei simply watched the two go before a smile bloomed over her face, "Such manly and responsible boys those two are."

* * *

><p><strong>Nerima<strong>

Nabiki whistled a tune to herself as she counted up the take from the latest rounds of bets and such as she snacked on some cookies in the dining room. The fathers were off at a bar somewhere getting smashed once again but thankfully with their own money rather than with the savings for a change. They had been whining and moaning about Ranma leaving and not taking his rightful fiancée with him to meet her future in-laws non-stop since they heard he left. Kasumi was pleasantly humming as she hung the laundry while Nodoka handled the daily trash. Akane was once again hanging out with her friends, although she was still grumpy as ever since Ranma was out of sight and in her mind, off doing perverted things like she thought he always did when she wasn't there to 'keep an eye' on him. No doubt she would be complaining to her friends.

While Furinkan was still being repaired, Nabiki knew of several ways to make money of events in town, bets, information, and even a bit of extortion if it came down to it. She had all the connections through the district and always knew how to make them work for a rather pleasant amount of profit. Since Furinkan was closed for the moment, lots of students were buying information on what was happening with Ranma and making bets in advance for the next fight. All in all, it was a very tidy sum

BOOM!

"Nihao!"

A sum which just went out the window as Shampoo once again burst through the garden wall and leaped onto the veranda without even waiting for an invitation to come inside. Despite her broken accent, Nabiki knew Shampoo was not stupid nor ignorant of Japanese ways. Frankly it was her way of spiting Akane and her family during her quest to make Ranma her husband like her laws dictated. Frankly, Nabiki doubted that anyone but Ranma could get her to stop that if he asked, but that would no doubt make her think he was warming up to the idea of being her husband and she would redouble her efforts in claiming him. Usually those kinds of efforts resulted in lots of damaged property and all out brawls.

Shampoo trotted inside the house and looked down at Nabiki who just continued munching on her cookies, pretending Shampoo's expensive means of entry didn't bother her, "Shampoo need information from Mercenary Girl. Shampoo willing to pay too too good price for it."

"I'm listening," Nabiki answered. Maybe if she played this right she could get Shampoo to pay for the wall or at least the majority of it.

"Shampoo want to know where Airen is," Shampoo spoke. "He not at school and he not at house of Kitchen Destroyer. Shampoo look for him all over but not find him. Now she ask Mercenary Girl where he is."

"10,000 Yen," Nabiki replied, extending her hand. Shampoo huffed, but produced the number of bills needed to pay off the middle Tendo for her information. Counting up the sum and finding it adequate, Nabiki began to spill. "Ranma left to visit some relatives since he now has some spare time for it. I'm not going to tell you where they are since he specifically requested and paid for not being found. He just wants a nice and peaceful visit for a little while."

"Aiyah!" Shampoo gaped, seemingly surprised by the information. "Airen has relatives? Why he no tell Shampoo! She need to meet them as future wife! Must go get good outfit for meeting!" Once again ignoring the fact that Ranma had wanted peace as she did every time she was told to leave Ranma alone, Shampoo burst from the house and out through the hole she had made. Her mind was awhirl with how she would make a good impression on Ranma's relatives and hopefully get some support from her future husband's family in her claim. She had even forgotten that she didn't know where Ranma's relatives were. No doubt she'd be back later to demand that information too.

Normally Nabiki would have sold that tidbit of information for top yen, but Ranma had a damn good reason to see his relatives concerning his cousin's tastes and the troubles in the Kanto region. Concern for family was a damn good reason for keeping things secret from the ever-meddling and destructive Nerima Wrecking Crew. Of course, it wouldn't stop them from trying to bribe, whine, and threaten their way to the information. Nabiki couldn't put a price on family love despite her ability to put a price on most everything else. She wasn't a martial artist either, but a girl who lived in the modern day and thus she didn't subscribe to that sense of honour so shaming information out of her would never work. She also knew that everyone who did want the information had a sense of honour despite how selective it was at times so they would never carry out their threats to attack an unarmed person like her. Even if they did, she had dirt on all of them so it would be a very bad thing to try and take out their frustrations on her.

"That's two quarters," Nabiki commented to herself as she counted the cash again. "Ukyo and Kodachi should be coming for information soon. With the two of them, it should cover the rest of the cost for the wall and maybe get that new CD player I wanted."

Burying the money in her pocket, she looked back to her bets and odds sheets and continued working.

* * *

><p><strong>Kanto<strong>

In one part of the Kanto region Hakufu was walking beside a new friend. The two of them had met after Hakufu had been convinced by two guys to head to a karaoke bar where they promised to treat her to lunch. However, it was just a trap for the both of them to try and take advantage of her. Before they could get started though, the new girl Hakufu was walking with at present burst her way inside and beat the pair of them up.

The girl wore a green/blue skirt which was worn like overalls with a white shirt underneath. She also had tan skin which made her clothes appear brighter and had short messy black hair. An odd aspect about her was the red weights which she wore around her ankles and wrists, but the added weight really didn't seem to bother her at all. The most important feature though was that she was wearing a gold bead on her left ear.

The two girls were walking over a bridge which hung over a river while the odd car raced past them. Having just escaped the karaoke bar and leaving the punks to deal with all of the injuries that the girl had given them for their attempted stunt, the two of them hadn't had the chance to talk until now

"You know, I heard you were pretty stupid, but I didn't think you were THAT stupid," the mystery girl chuckled slightly.

"Hey, you called me stupid," Hakufu huffed. "Besides, we just met! Anyway, when a guy says he'll treat you, you normally go with them."

"Um…no you don't, normally," the mystery girl smiled weakly.

"Really?" asked the strawberry blonde as if hearing that tidbit of wisdom for the very first time. Shrugging she turned to look at her new friend. "So just where are we going anyway? I'm on a broken heart healing trip so I'm a little busy right now," her stomach giggled, bringing a slight smile from the mystery girl. "Actually, right now the more serious problem is how to get some lunch."

"Broken heart?" asked the mystery girl, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I was utterly defeated in my last battle. It was a really shameful experience. Even though my cousin says he's going to train me so he can make me stronger I still feel like I have to do this," Hakufu sighed with more than a little depression in her voice. "Ever since that defeat, I just suddenly felt like I didn't like myself anymore.

'_Cousin? Does she mean Kokin Shuyu?_' the mystery girl thought to herself as she decided to make her comment. "Well, your brain may not remember, but your body sure does."

"Huh?" Hakufu blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"BASICS!"

The sounds of the male yelling out caught both girls' attention as they looked down to the riverside. A whole group of fighters were together, circling around one male who was by himself. If Ranma were to be there, he would have recognized the guy as one of the three he had met when he woke up yesterday morning at Kyosho Academy. While Ranma would have recognized the fighter, he never got the fighter's name, Kakoton Genjou.

"BASICS! BASICS!" Kakoton yelled, punctuating each shout by pounding an enemy in the face and knocking them down with swollen or bleeding faces. With the fighters giving him space to begin a counterattack, Kakoton growled in frustration before shouting into the air, "Man! Fighters today are hopeless! Doesn't anyone know the basic skills anymore?"

Entranced by the events of the fight and the strange fighter, Hakufu began to get closer, heading down the stairs so to get a better view, letting the mystery girl simply watch with a smile on her face.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere…<p>

Ranma yawned as he stood atop a building, looking over the streets in a half-hearted attempt to find his cousin. While he was admittedly mildly concerned that something could happen to her, Ranma knew that Hakufu could take care of herself against the average foe and only someone like Ryomou, Kanu, Taishiji, or someone on their level would really be the ones to worry about but they probably wouldn't be the ones to go after her unless another one of those stupid Imperial Orders went out. Really, what were the odds that such an order would be made on the day that Hakufu decided to go out by herself?

"Kokin's blowing this way out of proportion," the pigtailed fighter sighed, leaping from the building and landing on the sidewalk. Incidentally, he frightened more than a few people who were nearby when he did so. "Hakufu isn't completely helpless like he acts like she is. Jeez."

Ranma had taken to using the high ground in seeing if he could spot Hakufu, taking care to notice places which served good food. If there was one thing Hakufu enjoyed as much as fighting then it was eating. Frankly it was something the two of them enjoyed doing, especially when it came to sweets and such things. However, none of the places he had found seemed to be hosting his slightly ditzy cousin at the moment. Unconcerned as of yet but still getting annoyed, Ranma continued his search.

"Man, how hard is it to find one girl in this place?" Ranma asked himself as he entered one of the recreational park areas. So far he hadn't seen hide nor hair of Hakufu and he was running out of ideas to try and find her. "Hakufu's nowhere near smart enough to-" his critique of his cousin's intelligence and/or skill was suddenly cut off when the sounds of shouts and battle cries began to come out from nearby. Concerned, he allowed his ears to guide him.

Trailing from the brickwork paths, Ranma moved to the trees which decorated the park. Normally the trees would be sparsely placed, but in this case there seemed to be enough to give people some privacy if they really wanted it. Most likely in this case they were being used by a bunch of fighters for yet another skirmish in their war with each other. Passing by a bunch of trees, the pigtailed fighter soon found that this was indeed the case as he found the source of the noise.

The source of the noise came from a moderate group of fighters which ranged into the same area that Ranma and Kokin had taken on when he first appeared at Nanyo. They were all dressed in regular clothes, all of them sporting magatama beads of various colours, although all of them were either jade or bronze, indicating lower level fighters. About half of them were sporting pipes or wooden swords. All of the fighters were circled around a lone target, a single girl who wore a school uniform which had a black skirt with a white top and a brown vest. She wore white gloves and had long silver hair which trailed down to her backside. She was definitely curvy, but Ranma's eyes were trained more on the fact that she was holding a katana in one hand with it's sheathe in the other and that her eyes were closed.

"We've got you now Seito bitch!" one of the fighters grinned.

"Do you now?" asked the girl, her eyes still very much closed. "I'll believe that when you actually have me."

"What was that?" growled another fighter.

"Let's get her!" shouted another.

Ranma sighed as he watched the fighters beginning to advance with another battle cry. As far as he could tell, none of the goons were going to last very long in a one on one fight with the silver-haired girl. None of them had much skill beyond street fighting and not one of them who had a weapon were very proficient in it. They were holding them wrong and gripping them like baseball bats rather than like actual weapons. The girl on the other hand was in a ready stance without even looking like she was in one. She knew exactly what she was doing as she held that sword and had all the skill needed to take down all of the goons there. What was rather impressive to Ranma was that she was apparently going to do it with her eyes closed.

The first of the thugs reached the girl and suddenly she was a blur of movement with a slash of her sword. The blade cut through the pipe the goon was holding and the force from the swing itself sent him tumbling backwards. The girl continued her spin and connected with a kick to another fighter's torso, sending him sprawling back into his fellows. She was a practical blur of silver and slashes which cut through the weapons of the fighters who attacked her while her kicks and her sheathe were used to fend off those who weren't armed. It was like a dance of battle, but to Ranma's eyes, she was probably capable of going much faster. Apparently she wasn't taking the fight very seriously.

"Whew," he whistled lowly. "She's something else."

Unknown to him, the girl's ears perked slightly as he made that statement. Smiling slightly, she continued her battle. Slash after slash destroyed the weapons which were being used against her while her agile kicks and swings of her sheathe was leaving those who were unarmed battered and bruised. As quickly as the battle had been started by the group of fighters, it had been ended by the silver-haired girl who came to a sudden stop before sheathing her sword slowly before it clicked into place at the hilt.

Smiling softly, she turned her head over to where Ranma had been standing, "Did you enjoy the show?"

"Bwuh?" Ranma blinked. "Wha-you mean you knew I was here?"

"Not immediately," the girl answered, beginning to walk around the unconscious and groaning thugs as she approached Ranma. He noticed that she still had her eyes closed even though the fight had ended. Was she blind? "You were very silent in your approach, no doubt not wanting to get caught by the fighters here. I did not even know you were there until you made the comment that I was 'something else'. I heard you and was then able to tell you were there."

"Uh, heh," Ranma flushed slightly, scratching the base of his pigtail. Apparently the girl's hearing was a lot sharper than he had initially thought. He just hoped that she didn't take his comment the wrong way and he ended up sticking his foot in his mouth trying to placate her anger.

"Don't be embarrassed. I'm actually flattered a fighter of your calibre finds me so impressive," the girl smiled. Standing in front of Ranma, she bowed slightly. "My name is Chou'un Shiryuu. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ranma Saotome."

"How'd you know my name?" Ranma asked with a blink. Was this girl psychic along with strong or something?

"I was there when you introduced yourself to Kanu before you fought her," Chou'un replied. "I don't think anyone in Seito isn't talking about it at some point during their day. You made quite the impression on everyone there, especially Kanu."

"You know Kanu?" Ranma asked curiously.

"Oh yes. She happens to be a good friend of mine," Chou'un answered with a nod. "I could tell from my view of the fight that she was enjoying herself near the end just as much as you were. At that point it was very clear that you weren't there to hurt anyone. I think even Chouhi could see that much when it was all done."

"You saw?" asked the pigtailed fighter. "But aren't you…"

"I'm not blind Ranma-san," Chou'un laughed lightly. "I just prefer to use my other senses when I go about my day. I rarely open my eyes unless I think it's for a very good reason."

"Oh," Ranma flushed slightly. It looked like yet another foot-in-mouth moment for him. "Sorry. I just thought since you had your eyes closed even after the fight ended…"

"Don't worry. I am not offended," Chou'un reassured the pigtailed martial artist. "You are by far not the first to assume such a thing about me. With the way I have my eyes closed all the time and how sharp my remaining senses are, I'd be surprised if someone didn't assume I was blind when they first met me."

"Still, I shouldn't have assumed that," Ranma grinned weakly, still flushed. He had to admit that despite some of his little blunders in the conversation, he was finding Chou'un to be very easy to get along with. She seemed quite peaceful despite her skill as a fighter and very much not the type to jump to conclusions like the Fiancée Brigade back in Nerima did. In fact, she seemed ready to correct him on his mistakes and just laugh them off.

'_Maybe I should consider settling down out here,_' Ranma's mind thought treacherously. Thoughts of being able to hang out with people who enjoyed the fighting arts as much as he did and not having to fight because someone's ego was bruised or because someone jumped to conclusions and decided that he had to die just punctuated the point his brain tried to make, but Ranma shook them off in favour of talking to Chou'un, "So just who are these jokers who tried to get the jump on you?"

"People from Yoshuu I presume," the silver-haired girl answered, turning her head towards the downed punks. "I recognized their voices from some previous scuffles that Seito had with their school. I'm not sure right now, but I think they're trying to pick off stronger fighters with sheer numbers now so if or when more serious battles start, they'd have a better chance of winning."

"Jeez. Some people," Ranma frowned. If this war between the schools was supposed to be a re-enactment of that Romance of the Three Kingdoms story then at the very least the people involved should have some warrior's pride and act like true fighters and less like stupid punks. "So what brought you out here alone anyway? I'd have thought that even with your skill you'd bring a partner in case someone who might cause trouble tried to get the jump on you."

"Oh, just errand for our leader," Chou'un shrugged. "Ryuubi does love her books and heard that there was a sale going on at one of her favourite shops. However, we prefer she stays at our school or our home in case incidents such as this happen, petty thugs trying to make a target out of anyone who isn't part of their school or allied with them," Her smile then turned slightly wider with a sly undertone. "Although, having a partner while I'm out in face of this attack does sound like a good idea. Perhaps you'd be so kind as to walk with me?"

"Well…I," Ranma mumbled. Truth be told he should have been looking for Hakufu, but he still thought that she would be okay and would come back home when she felt sure of herself again, despite Kokin's panic-driven thoughts which said otherwise. Besides, he hadn't really had much of a clue as to where she went and simply accompanying Chou'un on her errand didn't seem like it would take too long, "I…I guess I could since it probably wouldn't be too far out of my way."

"Excellent," Chou'un smiled. Taking Ranma's arm, she grasped it between her own securely and comfortably. Tightly enough so that he could feel the swell of her breasts easily enough. Ranma flushed and tried not to stammer like an idiot or try to escape since it seemed that Chou'un wasn't going to let go. Looking to her new escort, the silver-haired swordswoman smiled, "Shall we?"

"Uh…sure," Ranma nodded, trying to fight down the blush on his cheeks. With Chou'un taking the lead, the pair walked around the unconscious enemy fighters and towards their destination.

The pair walked down to the path before coming back out onto the main streets where Chou'un led the way to what Ranma assumed to be her leader's favourite book store. To anyone else on the street, the two of them merely looked like a couple who may be playing hooky and enjoying some time on the town together. Some adults scoffed at them but others noticed the magatama bead around Ranma's neck or the sword in Chou'un's hands and decided not to make a scene. However, as much of a pair the two of them looked, there was more going on underneath.

'_He's nervous,_' Chou'un thought to herself. She could feel Ranma's pulse in his arm and it was quick, indicating a degree of unease. The muscles were likewise tense, as if anticipating an attack or something. '_He's also apparently expecting something. It can't be because of me, is it?_' Looking to her escort, she posed the question, "You seem tense Ranma-san, am I making you uncomfortable?"

"Oh, no, it's nothing you're doing," Ranma replied, cursing his normal reaction to any girl getting close to him. "I've sort of…had some…bad experiences when I'm in a moment like this," mentally he chided himself, '_Baka! Don't treat Chou'un like she's one of the Fiancée Brigade! None of them are here and she doesn't seem the type who'll lash out and hit me at the sign of something she doesn't like!_' Of course, as much as his mind kept saying that, his body had learned otherwise from experience with the numerous women who entered his life in Nerima and thus went by instinct.

"Bad experiences with a beautiful girl on your arm?" Chou'un asked with slight confusion. If her eyes had been open at the time, she would have blinked. "I would think that a handsome fellow like you would have nothing but good experiences with girls."

"I wish," Ranma sighed, slumping slightly. Chou'un noticed the slacking of his muscles, possibly meaning he was relaxing, but the tone of his voice indicated a fair amount of depression. Were those bad experiences he mentioned really so bad? "Whenever I am in the company of a pretty girl like you, someone always butts into the middle of it and ends up starting a fight over it and in the end, even though I win, I always get hit with something blunt or heavy, sometimes both."

"What?" Chou'un asked in disbelief.

"My home district is…not a very stable place," Ranma admitted succinctly, thinking of the tamest description of Nerima he knew. "Almost everyone is a martial artist, related to a martial artist, knows a martial artist, or has a martial artist friend. Everyone develops or tries to develop styles there from just about everything. I could tell you the goofiest styles I have ever heard of and I had to end up fighting them."

'_No change in pulse. He's telling the truth. Amazing,_' Chou'un thought to herself. "I would think that being inside such a district would bring about a fair amount of challengers. So many styles and practices would do wonders for training and experience."

"I suppose it does," Ranma admitted. "And if were just that I wouldn't complain, but…" he trailed off. Chou'un frowned slightly at his hesitation. Was she pressing too hard for information? She didn't want Ranma to be wary of her or of Seito.

"Do you feel comfortable telling me?" asked Chou'un. "Please know that you don't have to. We have only just met after all," as she was saying that though, the silver-haired girl was silently hoping that Ranma would continue talking. She was getting a very candid view of him outside of battle and it was making her even more intrigued. She never would have guessed that the bright young man she witnessed fighting Kanu would be so easily depressed by mention of his home district. She also hoped to find out why he seemed so averse to intimacy. That would play a big roadblock in her plans should the reason remain undiscovered.

"Oh, it's not that I don't want to talk about it," Ranma sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "It's just that if I said it out loud there someone would take offense and try to attack me for it," taking a breath, he continued, "I've been raised for as long as I can remember to hold honour in a high degree. Honour is important to me and it's one of the things I can proudly say that I can call my own. Sure I've stretched it a few times, but I've always held fast to it. One of my problems with my home district is that no one else seems to hold it to the same degree."

"They don't?" Chou'un frowned. Well, it was the modern era so not everyone would consider honour as important as people in the old days did. However, Chou'un as a swordswoman held it in a high degree as did Kanu and others in Seito. Apparently Ranma held it just as high as they did, even if no one around him at his home seemed to do the same.

"Nope," Ranma shook his head, "Some preach and harp about it, but they never seem to follow the rules. Those bad experiences I mentioned? Mostly caused by girls who appealed to my honour, trying to make me do what they say and I usually get attacked by some jealous suitor for them or something. They all preach about honour, but in the end they just ignore it and use martial arts as an excuse to do whatever they want."

Again, if Chou'un had her eyes open, she would have had them as wide as saucers, "I see," she nodded. Things were staring to become clear, if only a little. "You were nervous because you instinctively thought some rival for my attention would try to separate us and get rid of you so I would pay attention to them?"

"It's happened so many times before I just do it out of instinct," Ranma shrugged. "Sorry if I spoiled your good mood."

"Oh no, you don't have to be sorry," Chou'un smiled reassuringly. "I'm actually happy you trust me enough to tell me that much of yourself."

"Well, to be honest since coming here I've met so many powerful people who hold honour and the code of the warrior to a high degree, its kind of easier to trust people out here because of how they hold those values," Ranma grinned, scratching his cheek. "Believe it or not I feel more at ease here with fighters of your calibre in the middle of this war than I do at home with all of the martial artists and the day to day life."

"I see. Thank-you for giving me that trust Ranma," Chou'un smiled. She could feel the tension leaving the young man's muscles and his pulse slow down to a normal and steady beat. It seemed that she had passed some sort of instinctive test that Ranma put to people he knew. She suspected the test involved seeing if she believed in the rules of honour either through a match like he did with Kanu or by watching her fight like he did, but perhaps it was just a subconscious thing that even Ranma himself didn't know he gave. Either way, Chou'un could feel that she had passed and she was glad for it. Continuing to smile, she spoke, "I promise I will not betray that trust."

"Thanks," Ranma smiled.

* * *

><p><strong>Seito Shrine<strong>

Chou'un slid open the door to the shrine she called home, this time carrying a bag filled with books in her free hand. Stepping inside, she slipped her shoes off before pulling on her indoor slippers. Stepping onto the hardwood floors, she didn't get even two steps before the familiar and downright cute face of Ryuubi Gentoku appeared before her, her eyes large and glittery like a puppy about to receive a treat.

"Did you get my books? Were they all there?" she asked eagerly.

"Yes. Here they are," Chou'un smiled, holding out the bag of books.

Ryuubi was a flash of movement as she took the bag and dashed of for one of her usual reading perches to find it. As Ryuubi vanished around the corner, Kanu came around, missing the missile which had been her leader. Shaking her head, she looked over at her fellow fighter, noticing that her usual peaceful appearance seemed to have a bit more life in it, "You seem to be in a good mood. Did something happen?"

"I happened to run into Ranma Saotome while out on Ryuubi's errand," Chou'un answered. Kanu's eyes widened slightly at the admission.

"And what happened when you did?" she asked calmly, but there was a taste of jealousy in her voice.

"Well, we walked to the bookstore Ryuubi wanted to go to and he helped me find a few books," Chou'un answered, walking down the hall with Kanu next to her. "We also talked a bit. I managed to learn a fair bit about him."

"Such as?" asked Kanu, hoping for an example.

"He holds honour to a high degree just like you and I," the swordswoman answered. "It also appears he is somewhat shy around women unless he feels he can trust them," Well, that was putting it mildly after hearing some of the stories Ranma had been willing to tell which helped create his reflex of being tense around girls who were interested in him, but it got the message across just the same. Strangely enough there were a lot of gaps in those stories, which made Chou'un ponder if it was simply those instances which made Ranma so jittery or if there was more to them than what had been said.

"And he began trusting you so soon after just meeting you?" asked Kanu with more than a little suspicion.

"The only reason he trusted me was because he found that I hold honour to a great degree," Chou'un replied. "I believe he unconsciously tests people by either fighting them or watching them fight and gauging how they deal with their opponents. You and I both passed that test after you fought him and he witnessed me fighting some low-class fighters from Yoshuu who thought I made an easy target because I was by myself. It was enough for him to at least begin to relax in my presence when I was holding his arm."

Kanu's frown grew larger slightly. She couldn't believe she was beginning to act so…immature, about how Chou'un had gotten closer to Ranma while she herself was merely an acquaintance at best. Chou'un was single and a woman just as much as a warrior. She was fully in her rights to desire Ranma and try to get closer to him. Yet, somehow Kanu just felt jealousy flare up at the mere thought of Chou'un being closer to him than she was. What was it about him that made her feel that way? She barely knew the man and yet he seemed to just worm his way into her desires after just one battle and a short conversation. It made no sense!

"So you're saying he now trusts you enough to relax in your presence?" asked Kanu, her flare of jealousy growing by just saying the words.

"He'd do the same for you if you manage to catch up with him," Chou'un answered. "He wanted to trust me, I could tell when he spoke to me at times about himself. He wanted to believe that he could trust me not to try and turn on him when his back was to me. I suspect that there is a story to that, but he is not comfortable enough around me to say that much about himself yet."

"So what else did you learn?" pressed Kanu.

"Surprisingly little," Chou'un sighed in disappointment. "He seems happy to talk about incidents and such that happened in his life, other people who were involved, and where he came from but when it comes to his involvement and how some people are connected to him there is very little detail. With the pride he takes in his skills I find his lack of enthusiasm somewhat odd."

"Hmm," Kanu pondered. That indeed did sound odd. Kanu knew Chou'un well enough to know that she would not lie to her friends and comrades. Granted, this was less than a serious situation but Chou'un was still not one to lie to those close to her about anything, "So what else did you do with him?"

"After we purchased Ryuubi's list, he walked me back to the shrine and we said our goodbyes at the entrance" Chou'un smiled.

FLASHBACK

_Ranma and Chou'un were standing at the front arch to the Seito Shrine where apparently, Chou'un, Kanu, Chouhi, Ryuubi, and two others lived. Having spent more than his share of nights at shrines, the arrangement did not seem odd to him. He just figured that the girls had some connections somewhere and managed to land some rooms in the shrine while they went to school or something. Chou'un had kept her grip on Ranma's arm since leaving the bookstore so Ranma had to carry the bag of books. He didn't mind too much since talking to Chou'un and carrying the books helped keep his mind of how nice her body felt against his arm._

_"Well, here's my stop," the swordswoman sighed, reluctantly letting go of Ranma's arm._

_"Yep," Ranma nodded, handing the books over to his new friend. "I hope that Ryuubi girl enjoys them."_

_"I dare say she will," Chou'un smiled. "I really must thank you for spending time with me today. I think I managed to learn a little bit about you and I must say that I like what I've learned so far."_

_"Heh," Ranma smiled awkwardly, scratching the base of his pigtail. "Forget about it. I had fun too."_

_"Maybe we could do this again sometime then," Chou'un offered, smiling wider as she heard Ranma mumble an affirmative under his breath. He had been very shy when she tried to talk about relationships past why he seemed so tense around her. Still, it wasn't driving him away so she kept at least a little pressure on about intimacy. So far it seemed to get him to answer. Smiling, she continued, "Next I must apologize for something."_

_"Huh?" Ranma blinked. "For what?"_

_"This" Chou'un answered. Stepping up to Ranma she quickly stole a kiss from his left cheek, making his turn bright red. She was sorely tempted to open her eyes just to see the look on his face, but managed to control herself. "Consider it my way of saying thank-you for trusting me today. I could tell from the way you talked about past experiences you don't do that very often."_

_"…you're good," Ranma managed to speak out, running his fingers on his cheek._

_"Hmm," Chou'un smiled. Turning, she began to head towards the shrine itself before calling over her shoulder, "Please do consider Kanu's offer in joining us in Seito. I'd personally give you a grand welcome."_

_Ranma just watched her go, his face still red with a soft daze coming across it._

END FLASHBACK

Kanu's eye twitched as Chou'un finished her story. Taking a breath, she squashed the fires of jealousy insider of her chest. She was a warrior, she had better control of her emotions than some simple schoolgirl, "I'm surprised you're being so honest with what you've done and learned about Ranma to me. Aren't we rivals for him?"

"Yes, but this isn't a battle for pride, this is a battle for love," Chou'un answered. "If I fought you for Ranma like I would fight other fighters for our school, it wouldn't show him that I truly cared and would probably be ruining whatever chance I have at him. Proving I am better than you is not the goal, showing Ranma I can be the one for him is. It all comes down to him really and if he chooses me then I shall be happy for it. If he chooses you, I'd be disappointed, but it's hardly the end of the world."

Kanu nodded, agreeing with the statement, "Yes, this isn't a fight we usually train for, is it? The rules are different and so is the goal. I don't know what it is about him that makes me feel so attracted to him, but I think I'll enjoy trying to find out."

"You and me both," Chou'un giggled. "I don't think I've ever been so forward with someone ever. Whatever it is about him that makes me do it, I think I like it."

"Hmm," Kanu nodded with a faint smile, agreeing with her friend.

* * *

><p><strong>Shu Household<strong>

The sun was setting and the sky was bright orange when Ranma walked back onto the property, still slightly dazed by what had occurred with Chou'un. A kiss on the cheek wasn't exactly what anyone would call groundbreaking or world stopping, but to someone like Ranma who had received little, if any affection that he could actually appreciate and not get attacked not even ten seconds after receiving, it felt pretty nice. Chou'un's lips were as soft as her pale almost porcelain-like skin would suggest and the warmth of her body made it even nicer. Compared to other kisses he received like from Mikado in his girl form or from Shampoo and that Kiss of Marriage where it was more or less forced on him by someone who was convinced he would enjoy it or didn't care either way, it was probably the best kind of kiss he had received in his life.

More and more since coming to Kanto, Ranma was meeting the kinds of people who he felt martial arts should have produced over the years. Honourable, pride befitting of a warrior, a desire to be strong and being unafraid to actually work for it, and most of all, the kind of connection Ranma had always felt martial artists would share through the heart of a fighter was present in them. Taishiji, Kanu, Hakufu, Chou'un, and even Kokin to an extent, all of them held the pride and honour of fighters to the same degree that he did. Buried even in a war with massive amounts of thugs, they still held to it. That kind of mindset was something Ranma had believed in, that he felt all true martial artists had.

Again, although his father's conditioning concerning women being a distraction and his own body's natural instinct to prepare for battle when intimacy became a factor, Ranma's eternally repressed libido came to the challenge, reminding him strongly about the shapely girls he had met thus far. Kanu and Chou'un were both fighters of honour and didn't seem that eager to hurt him, if at all. In Kanu's case it was after she determined that Ranma was not some kind of assassin and decided to have fun with their battle like he was. Even Ryofu and Ryomou who he had only met once had been classified as sexy by the pigtailed martial artist's repressed libido, but the feeling of unease he got from Ryofu on account of her coming from Rakuyo and the less than stellar circumstances he met Ryomou under kept any attraction at bay. However, in Kanu and now Chou'un's case, it was getting harder for him to not notice their exotic beauty and instead concentrate on the very impressive skills they wielded.

Walking through the front door, he didn't bother announcing that he was home and instead travelled straight to the living room. Upon entering, he saw his aunt smiling with a cup of tea in her hands and Kokin slumped against the table, mumbling to himself about something.

"Yo," Ranma greeted, catching his relative's attention. "Kokin, did you find Hakufu?"

"Yeah, she was at Nanyo fixing the damage her fight with Ryomou did," Kokin sighed, looking at his cousin. "I don't know where she got the tools though and she was wearing someone's jacket with the front of her dress ripped open."

"Told you she'd be fine," Ranma snickered, taking a seat. While Ranma had been known to freak out himself when Akane got into trouble with her fights, it's because he knew that while having some training, Akane didn't have the experience or the instinct to turn it into a real martial arts battle instead of the usual brawls she was used to with the Hentai Horde. Hakufu on the other hand definitely had the drive along with the strength and skill to get through any fight with an average opponent like the kinds which would populate most of Kanto. She didn't have a whole lot of martial arts skills, but she had seen enough to be able to emulate it and get her through most average fighters.

"I knew she would," Goei nodded with a smile as she sipped her tea. "So Ranma, how'd your day go?"

"Eh, made a new friend. She seemed nice," Ranma shrugged.

"Oh, so it was a woman eh?" Goei grinned. "So what's her name?"

"Um…Chou'un Shiryuu," Ranma answered. Hearing the name, Kokin began to choke on his own saliva.

"Chou'un Shiryuu?" he gaped. "Do you just go out so you can meet the best fighters in Kanto or what?"

"I met her after some thugs from Yoshuu tried to get the jump on her," Ranma answered, ignoring Kokin's outcry, "I didn't even need to get involved since she beat them all so fast. Get this though, she did it all with her eyes closed! Cool, huh?"

"With…her eyes closed?" Kokin blinked, growing pale. He already knew Kanu's strength thanks to the few appearances she made that Nanyo witnessed, but all he knew about Chou'un was through rumours and such. Beating a bunch of fighters with her eyes closed, just how strong were the fighters of Seito?

"My, how interesting. Was she pretty?" asked Goei with a teasing grin.

"Ummm…yeah," Ranma nodded. "She is.

"Hmmm, how very interesting," the elder woman grinned.

Neither Ranma nor Kokin felt right as they saw a gleam enter their aunt's eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>Youshu<strong>

Inside arguably one of the weakest school of the seven which had gone to war with each other, the three top fighters of Youshu met together inside their usual meeting room. Technically, it was the student council room, but since the fighters ran the school, it was saved for the personal use of the leader of Youshu and his lieutenants. Despite the school day being over and the majority of the students being gone, three of them were in the darkened room, looking at their cell phones.

The three in attendance were the leaders of Youshu, one of which being one of the top five fighters in all of Kanto, ranking next to Kanu and Chou'un. The first of the three was Hanno, the one who had ordered his men to attack Ranma based on the assumption that he was a new transfer to Nanyo and had to be put down before the enemy received more fighters. The second was Taishiji, one of the fighters Ranma had respect for despite having only met and fought them once. Lastly was a blonde fighter who wore a dark hooded sweater. He didn't stand out to much despite being the leader of Youshu. His name was Ryuyou.

"What the hell?" Hanno blinked, looking at the image on his phone. "I thought that since we were all called here that this chick would be super strong but looking at her-"

"Shut up!" Ryuyou snapped. "We have our orders! We must destroy her or Totaku will kill us!"

"It doesn't matter," Taishiji uttered. "I will follow his orders and enjoy the battle."

"Just make sure to get the job done Taishiji," Ryuyou frowned. "Remember that you're under orders so don't get caught up in fighting like you did with that Saotome guy. We were lucky that Totaku was more curious about him than he was about how you decided to do something on your own!"

"Heh, you expect me not to enjoy a good fight when someone skilled like him appears?" the braided teen smirked. "Even after all this time you don't seem to know me very well, do you?"

Ryuyou growled, but didn't press the issue further, "Just make sure you keep your mind on the mission."

The darkened room just continued to be illuminated only by the light of their cell phones, each depicting the form of Hakufu Sonsaku.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, what do you think of Paladin-sempai's work? This chapter may contain over 40 000 words, but I know that I can't write that much in one chapter but I'll try my best.<strong>


End file.
